Dancing with the Devil
by CDV10
Summary: He charms, loves, and leaves them. She seduces, manipulates, and uses them. They both think they're untouchable. But they might have just met their match in the form of each other...
1. Chapter 1

**I own nothing. Nada, zip, zero, squat. Leave me some feedback, and if you want to be harsh, then by all means, go right ahead…**

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Chris Jericho wasn't one for commitment, and he never had been. Even so, it wasn't something he regretted. As it was, he was living the good life. Getting paid and getting laid was the name of his game, and he was currently king of both worlds. He was one of the highest paid workers in Vince's company, and he definitely had no shortage of women.

After all, he needed only look at the one laying next to him in his bed for confirmation of that…

He rubbed at his eyes, groaning a bit as the haze of sleep started to leave him. Yawning, he went to stretch a bit until he noticed the warm female body that was wrapped up with his. Frowning a bit, he disentangled himself from the girl before getting up out of bed. He shot a quick glance at the time before picking up his boxers and slipping them on. Without thinking about it, he instinctively started picking up his clothes and slipping them on as he did. He had this routine down pat after having done it for so long.

Several moments later, he stepped out of the bathroom in the hotel room, dressed and freshened up. He was just about ready to go start his day, before he looked at the girl who was still in his bed. He licked his lips a bit as he noted that only the white sheet prevented him from seeing her naked body. It was almost tempting to stir her from her slumber and rock her world again like he'd done the night before. It would definitely make him feel lighter on his feet… he snickered at the thought.

Instead, he headed over to his duffel bag, digging through until he found some index cards. He looked around a bit, before spotting a pen lying on top of the TV. He grabbed it and looked over at the girl, frowning a bit as he tried remembering her name…

_It started with an L, _he thought idly, before shrugging as he put the index card on top of the TV so he could write on it…

_Hey sweetheart,_

_Thanks for the great time last night, but I do believe you should be the one giving me thanks. After all, it's not everyone that gets a piece of me. You should feel lucky, honored, and privileged to have had me for a night…_

He tossed the pen over his shoulder before going over to the girl, looking at her for a moment. And then he shrugged and put the note on her pillow, before turning and walking away. He smirked as he lifted his duffel bag, grabbing his shades off a nearby table on his way out the door.

Slipping them on as he walked down the halls, his smirk grew as two words came to mind…

_Fuck commitment._

* * *

"Daddy," Stephanie sighed heavily. "This match doesn't make any sense."

"Now Stephanie," Vince warned as he looked up at her. "I know you're dating Hunter, and that's probably -"

"No, it has nothing to do with that," she said with a chuckle. He gave her a wary look as she smiled at him. "I'm serious, Daddy, you know I'm a professional."

"Yes, yes you are, but I still fail to see why Hunter shouldn't defend his title tonight."

"Well think about it like this," she said as she began to rub her hands together. "Why give away such a high quality match tonight, when you can save it for the next pay-per-view? That way we'll increase buys and make more money," she added in, knowing that that would do her father in.

She snickered lightly when she saw him get a thoughtful expression on her face. He was so easy to manipulate…

"You have a point, Princess," he said with an easy smile, one which she readily returned as she stood up from her chair.

"Oh thank you so much Daddy," she said as she blew him a kiss. "This is why you'll _always _be the number one man in my life."

He got that proud, fatherly look in his eyes, and she had to force her smile to stay on her face as she gave him a wave and walked out of his office. As soon as she was out, she rolled her eyes. The old man just kept getting easier and easier to whip around to her whim…

She looked around a bit before spotting a backstage worker. An evil looking smirk came to her face as she sauntered on over to him, feeling like having some fun. Once she was standing directly behind him, she reached up and yanked his headset off his head, before dropping them to the floor.

"Oh, whoops," she said innocently as the worker angrily spun around to face her.

"What the hell do you think you're – doing…" he finished, gulping when he realized who he was facing. Stephanie gave him a surprised look.

"Oh, I'm sorry, did I upset you?" she asked in an innocent tone, but he was a bit unnerved by the glint in her eyes.

"No, not at all, I just, didn't realize it was you Ms. McMahon," he stammered as he gave her a tentative smile. She nodded slowly, looking as if she was digesting his words.

"So, does that mean you're not mad at me?" she asked, giving him a worried look. "Really, it was an accident…"

"I'm not mad," he said, wary of the woman in front of him. He'd heard the stories… if she looked at you, it was to see how you'd fit in as the newest pawn in some game or scheme that she was trying to pull on someone.

"You're not mad then," she repeated, and he nodded. She then smirked, and now he was really wishing he had kept his mouth shut. "Good, then why don't you run along and fetch me a bottle of water, hmm? Can you do that for me?" she asked in a condescending tone, speaking to him as if he was a child.

He nodded and walked off, biting the inside of his cheek as Stephanie laughed heartily. She rubbed her hands together as she walked off towards her dressing room to inform Hunter of the change of plans regarding his match…

* * *

Chris gave Torrie a charming smile as he leaned against the wall, leaning a little closer to her as she smiled back at him. He reached up to her and touched her chin a bit, smirking when a blush came to her face.

"So you busy later?" he asked smoothly and she blinked as she processed his words.

"Yes, well, I mean no," she said sheepishly, loving his smile and not able to take her eyes off of him. She had always had a thing for Chris, but never would she have thought he'd actually look at her the same way.

He ran his tongue slowly over his bottom lip as he pulled his hand away, much to Torrie's disappointment.

"You wanna do something?" he casually asked, putting his hands into his pockets as he continued leaning against the wall.

"Like what?" she asked him, eyeing him curiously as he shrugged.

"Whatever you want," he answered as he kept his eyes on hers. She was drawn to him… he could tell. He resisted the urge to snicker as she gazed into his eyes, smiling as if he'd asked her to marry him or something equally retarded. As if he'd truly be interested in her, of all people…

Except for one thing anyways. The thought put a smile back on his face.

"Okay, I'll find you after the show," she said as she struggled to keep her breathing in check when he started leaning into her. He stopped only millimeters from her lips, making her breaths come out shakily as he smirked.

"You do that," he mumbled, teasing a kiss for another moment before pulling back. His smirk grew as he turned and walked away, not giving her a look back…

* * *

Stephanie carefully trailed the engraved gold on Hunter's championship belt, loving the power and the status that came with being the boss's daughter and being the champion's girlfriend. She wasn't lying when she called herself the most dominating female in the company. Hell, maybe even in the whole damn business.

If she was being honest, she'd say she was untouchable… no exaggeration, just the simple truth. People either moved out of her way, or they'd get burned in her path.

She sat up a bit straighter when the door to her dressing room opened and Hunter walked in. She stood up, and his eyes widened when he looked at her. She had removed her shirt and was sporting a black lacy bra that showed off her cleavage nicely…

"What the hell?" he asked, surprised as she flicked her hair over her shoulder.

"I was hot," she said nonchalantly, smirking at him as she raised his title belt with one hand. "Guess what?" she asked in a sing-song voice, and he shrugged as he looked her over. Her smirk only grew at that… "Well, not even going to guess?"

"I don't know, but I have my match and it's coming up," he said as he reached for his belt. Stephanie raised an eyebrow.

"You want it, come get it… cause you're not defending it tonight," she said in a devious tone as she just held his belt up, and he took a deep breath. He knew that tone well. It meant only one thing…

As soon as he took his belt from her, she was kissing him. He pulled her to him with one arm, letting her touch him wherever she wanted… that is, until her hand somehow found itself at the waistband of his trunks. He immediately reached for her hand and grabbed it.

"I have my match," he repeated, and she rolled her eyes.

"Not for another half hour…" she breathed as she went to kiss his neck, but he pulled away.

"Stephanie, I can't," he said, and there was a momentary look of surprise on her face, before it was replaced with that familiar McMahon anger.

"What the fuck do you mean, _you can't?" _she asked in disbelief, letting one hand trail down his chiseled chest. Hunter closed his eyes at her touch, the touch that was almost single-handedly arousing him…

Stephanie scowled when he removed her hand from him. She wasn't one who was rejected often, in fact, she couldn't remember the last time she'd been turned down. It was new territory… and she didn't like it.

"My match, Steph," Hunter said as he took a deep breath, trying to sober up from Stephanie's touch. She licked her lips and looked at him curiously.

"That's never stopped us before…" she said as she went to step up to him, but he sighed.

"Steph, stop, not tonight," he argued, and there was a flash of anger in her eyes at this.

"Hunter Hearst Helmsley," she said in a sickeningly sweet voice. "I got you out of your title shot tonight, and if you don't give me something back and perform your duties as my boyfriend by fucking me right now, then I'm just gonna have to find someone who will," she said with a smile, before looking down and pulling up her bra a bit.

"What?" he exclaimed, scoffing in disbelief. "Yeah right, you wouldn't cheat on me."

She raised an eyebrow, slightly amused. "Hunter, Hunter, Hunter… sweetie, I have needs, and I'm not going to wait on you. If you don't take care of me, then I have no choice but get taken care of elsewhere."

"Whatever," he laughed as he turned and walked towards the door. Stephanie bit her bottom lip angrily as she watched him, but she kept her mouth shut. She wanted the status that came with being his girlfriend, because he was the champion. That's all there was to it. She didn't really give a fuck about him, it was more about that piece of gold that came attached to him. He was just her key to getting more power…

Even though she knew she was blatantly using him, she didn't care. She knew they would one day come to a crashing end, and she expected it. After all, she'd never been one for commitment…

* * *

Meanwhile, Chris had just been informed that he was going to face Kane for the third time in as many nights. The first time had been enough to annoy him. The second time had been enough to offend him. But the third had just about pissed him the hell off. He was going to get to the bottom of whatever it was conspiring against him in the damn company.

And since Vince had stepped out, there was only one other person that he could go see…

He stalked down the hallway before ending up in front of Stephanie's dressing room that she shared with Hunter. He was thankful that Hunter's match was going on though and that he wouldn't have to see that man. Stephanie was nothing he couldn't handle.

In a move he'd one day regret, he didn't knock and pushed the door open to the room. Stephanie was laying on the sofa watching TV, and his angry tirade died at his lips when he saw that she wasn't in a shirt…

She looked over, half expecting it to be Hunter so they could finish what they started. She was more than a little surprised to see Chris Jericho standing at the door. Even more surprising was the way he was almost shamelessly staring at her…

"I do believe I feel violated," she droned even though she didn't even make a move to cover herself up. "You like what you see, Chris?"

He popped a bubble with his gum, getting over the initial shock of seeing her without that much clothing as he gave her a cool look.

"I've seen better," he said with a smirk, and she slowly pushed herself up so she was sitting.

"Is that so?" she asked, before pushing herself off the sofa and slowly walking over to him, her head tilted to one side. "I find that hard to believe."

"Believe it," he smoothly answered, intrigued by the look in her eyes.

"I've heard about you, Chris Jericho," she purred as she stepped up to him.

"Oh yeah?"

"Oh yeah," she said as she reached up to his face. He didn't pull back nor did he flinch when she started trailing his jaw line with one finger, instead a smirk coming to his lips.

"Don't tempt me Stephanie," he warned, and she laughed.

"Tempt you to what? Fuck me like you fuck everyone else?" she said, smirking at the look that came on his face. "Yeah, I've heard about you all right…"

"I can't help that I'm hot," he said arrogantly, and her smirk grew as she reached to him and trailed a finger down his chest, in the same way she had done to Hunter not so long ago.

"Hunter didn't want me tonight," she said in a calm, almost dull voice, but there was a glint of something in her eyes that kept him rooted to the spot. He raised an eyebrow at her claim.

"Well, he's a jackass," he said with a shrug. "He obviously doesn't know how much you care…"

Stephanie threw her head back and laughed at that. "Care? Chris, I don't give a fuck about him."

He looked at her curiously. "You don't?"

"No, I never have."

"Then why are you…" he started, before she leaned in close to his lips, making his voice trail off as his eyes dropped to her lips. There was something about her, an edge about her, that was drawing him to her.

"With him?" she finished for him, dangerously close to him… "Power," she said with a shrug. "Status… take your pick."

"If you don't back up from me, I'm going to have to throw you against the wall and give you the fuck of your life," he said in a low tone, and she raised an eyebrow in curiosity as she studied his blue eyes. She noticed that there was something different in his eyes, a cool edge about them that had never been there before. Even when they were business partners, she had never seen that edge… it was intriguing.

Reaching around him, she shoved the door closed before locking it. He watched her silently as she walked around him slowly, trailing her fingers lightly on his shoulders.

"Bold words," she said with a smirk, before coming to stand in front of him again. His eyes immediately went down to her breasts, and he licked his lips when they did. Stephanie was legitimately surprised by his blatant scrutiny of her, before she reached up to his face and lifted his head so he was making eye contact with her. "I think we could help each other a bit, Chris…"

"Yeah?" he asked, not sure what she wanted, but getting slightly flustered by all her touching. She nodded innocently, but that look in her eyes was far from innocent.

"Oh yeah," she said, smirking as she leaned in and teased him with another kiss. "Why don't you put your money where your mouth is?" she threw in, wondering if he was really that bold...

She didn't have to wonder much longer as he growled and leaned in the rest of the way, hating the way she was teasing him. _He _was the one who did the teasing, not anyone to him, and he proved it by capturing her lips in a hot kiss. Her shock lent itself to anger, and she was getting ready to kick him in the balls when he deepened the kiss and pulled her tighter against her. His kiss was sweet, sweet and addicting, and she forgot her anger as she wrapped her arms around him. What had started as a game soon had them falling onto her sofa together as their hot breaths mixed together.

Neither cared how they had ended up undressing the other at lightning speed. After all, neither one expected it to ever happen again… she just wanted to get back at a man she didn't care about, and he wasn't about to deny her gorgeous body...

And that was how it all began.


	2. Chapter 2

**I still own nothing…**

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Chris sighed heavily, before rubbing the back of his neck as he frowned. He collected his thoughts as he gazed at the ground, seeming to be in deep thought. After a moment, he looked back up at the woman who was glaring at him.

"I know you're probably mad about last week…" he started, pausing momentarily to choose his words. "And I deserve it for what I did."

"Yeah, you said we'd meet up later, and then you blew me off," Torrie mumbled, holding Chloe close to her as she petted her. Chris scowled at the sight of the dog, and he reminded himself of why he hated dogs.

"It couldn't be helped," he said sympathetically as he reached for her hand that was petting Chloe. He took her hand in his and rubbed the back of it softly with his thumb. "I had to leave right away, and I didn't have your number to let you know," he added, pouting slightly. "Don't be mad, Torrie…"

"I'm not," she sighed, unable to stay angry at him when he was looking at her that way. The way he was touching her hand also wasn't helping things. "But you could've left a message with someone…"

"I'm sorry, I didn't think," he said as he shook his head in disgust, looking at the floor. "I just don't think about things sometimes!"

"It's okay, you made a mistake," she said, giving his hand a squeeze. He fought the smirk that was threatening to appear on his face, instead giving her a sorry look when he looked back up at her.

"You're not mad then?" he asked in a hopeful tone. She sighed again and he once again caressed her hand. "Let me make it up to you tonight…"

"What do you have in mind?" she asked, and he smirked and gave a slight shrug.

"You just leave that to me, okay dollface?" he said as he reached up and let his fingers caress her jaw line a bit. She shuddered a bit, and he smiled at that and let his hands travel to her hair, which he brushed back behind her shoulders. "You're beautiful, you know that?" he said in a slightly lowered tone.

She blushed, but still couldn't keep the smile off her face. "You think so?" she asked as he nodded, knowingly.

"Very much so, yeah… I will definitely see you later," he said as he licked his lips and let go of her hand. He gave her a wink before turning and walking away, not looking back.

He couldn't keep the huge grin off his face even if he tried. When he had arrived earlier to the arena, Torrie hadn't even given him the time of day. It boggled the Canadian's mind, throwing him for a loop until it suddenly dawned on him that she was probably upset that he had blown her off the week before. Not that he cared, but he figured if he was going to be able to get the blonde in his bed sometime soon, he'd have to put on his charade and feign regret.

It was tough. After all, Chris Jericho wasn't one who regretted any of his conquests, as he liked to put it.

And the hookup with Stephanie was definitely not something he was going to regret any time soon.

* * *

Stephanie was once again laying on her side on the sofa in her dressing room watching TV, in much the same way that she was the week before when Chris had barged in on her. She licked her lips a bit at the thought of him, and she had to admit he was good. But then again, it wasn't as if he didn't practice enough. But still, facts were facts and she had to give credit where it was due. The man was good.

She snickered as she flipped through the channels, wondering where Hunter was and why it was taking him so long to come back. Part of her knew she should have felt guilty and remorseful after cheating on her boyfriend, yet the more sane and reasonable part of her wanted to laugh at the stupid notion. If Hunter had performed his duties, she wouldn't have given in to Chris. It was as simple as that.

Plus, it wasn't as if she was going to let it ever happen again with Chris, so there was no harm done.

Just then, the door opened and Hunter walked in, and she looked him over a bit as he did. Her sex life with Hunter was good, she couldn't complain about it. And yet with Chris… a smirk came to her face at the thought of him.

Oh yeah, he was good all right…

"Steph, hey," he said with a smile as he looked at her, removing his shades.

"Where's your belt?" she asked curiously, and he rolled his eyes.

"It's in my bag, you know I don't like to show it off when I'm outside of the arena, it attracts --"

"Annoying fans," she finished, nodding her approval. "But baby, you should wear your belt and be proud of it," she said with a smile, one that she knew would get her what she wanted.

He sighed. "I do wear it, Steph, just not out there. It's fine in here, because no one around here is going to get on my balls for an autograph."

"Like you're that popular," she snorted as she rolled her eyes.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he demanded, slightly offended at his girlfriend's words.

"The person who loves you the most around here is me," she said smugly, looking as though she deserved some reward for that. "But newsflash, baby… the fans could give two shits about you."

He scowled at that. "That's not true, I have fans that love me."

She laughed heartedly at this, shaking her head in amusement. "No Hunter, the fans don't like you… you will never get to that huge level that you've always wanted to get to, so my advice, sweetie, is just be happy with what you've got." She gave him a large, fake smile at that, and his scowl deepened. She was poking at his pride, and it was a dangerous game to play. But she didn't give a fuck, because that's the kind of person she was. She told it like it was, and you could cry her a river if you didn't like it.

"You're delusional," he finally said. "I'm the champion, I'm The Game, I'm the best in the damn business! People respect and love me."

"Respect, maybe," she said with a shrug. "But let's face it Hunter, it's not like you can ever be Ric Flair," she added nonchalantly, and he winced, feeling as though she was beating his pride down with a sledgehammer. Ric Flair was his idol when he was younger, and she knew it. He looked at her in disgust as he realized she didn't even care about the magnitude of her statement.

"Is that what you think?" he asked, and she rolled her eyes.

"Of course it's what I fucking think," she snapped. "I've grown up in this business, I've seen it all Hunter, and believe me when I tell you that this little fantasy of you being like Ric Flair or of you reaching the heights Rocky reached, well…" she snickered as she went back to watching TV. "I suggest you keep your day job."

"You know what?" he asked after a moment, and she looked back over at him.

"What?" she demanded, locking him in a steely gaze. They stared at each other in silence for a few moments before she sighed loudly. "Look, if you have something to say, then say it," she challenged, and he frowned at that.

"I think I'm gonna go for a walk," he said gruffly as he turned and walked back outside of the dressing room. Stephanie rolled her eyes, mumbling about boyfriends and egos as she went back to watching the show on their TV.

After an hour had passed with no sign of Hunter coming back, she was starting to get pissed. He was definitely not going to get any on that night, oh no. She tossed the remote angrily to the side as she pushed herself up, before standing. She was going to go see what the hell was taking him so long.

She stepped into the hallway and looked around, sneering at the workers that walked past her. Normally she'd be up for making their lives a living hell, but she was getting more and more pissed about Hunter's childish behavior. She was going to give him a piece of her mind.

"Looking for someone?" a voice asked from the side, and she glanced over to see Chris leaning back against the wall, his hands in his pockets and an easy smile on his face.

"Maybe," she said as she raised an eyebrow. "Have you seen Hunter?"

Chris studied her for a moment. She was fiery, and he liked that. There was definitely some spark to her, and if he didn't see it in her personality, he'd be an idiot not to see it during the hot sex they'd engaged in the previous week.

There was something a little different about her though. When they had gone at it, he felt it was different than with other girls. He was curious to find out just what made Stephanie McMahon so different.

Pushing himself off the wall, he casually strolled over to her, giving her the once-over as she watched him. He came up close to her, before leaning in.

"Can I tell you a secret?" he whispered.

"Does it have to do with Hunter?" she asked, looking at him with intrigue as he licked his lips.

"I'm sorry, you must have me mistaken with someone who gives a fuck about Triple H," he said with disgust, and she laughed.

"Well then, I guess that makes two of us," she said in a low tone as she smirked. He tilted his head a bit, before reaching out for her hand in the same manner he had with Torrie earlier.

"Last week was fun, don't you think?" he asked smoothly, and she looked down at his hand that was wrapped around hers. "We had a good time…"

She rolled her eyes and pulled her hand out of his. "I'm taken, Jericho."

He slowly stepped towards her. "That didn't stop us last week…"

Stephanie gave him a sweet smile, leaning in even closer to him. He smirked as she tilted her head a bit, her lips so close to his that he could feel her warm breath.

"Chris, Chris, Chris…" she sighed.

"That's my name…" he said in a low tone, his eyes on her lips. She reached up to his chest and let her fingertips trail it lightly, moving her hand down slowly.

"I think we should get something straight here, sweetie," she started, and he raised an eyebrow.

"What's that? You want another piece of me? Because there's enough Vitamin C left for another round of injections… or another ten," he said in a husky tone, and she laughed at that as she continued moving her hand lower.

"No, Chris, that's not it," she mumbled as she teased the waistband of his jeans, pulling it out ever so slightly. "See, I know your game, I know your reputation and I know what you're capable of…"

"I showed you last week, didn't I?" he asked, ignoring her touch… which was proving to be more and more difficult. He leaned in so that his lips were close to her ear. "And by the sound of your screams and moans, I have to say it sounded like you enjoyed me rocking your world," he added in a cocky tone that almost made Stephanie lose her cool.

Almost being the keyword.

He breathed in sharply when he felt Stephanie's hand flutter over the crotch of his jeans lightly. Just as he was going to open his mouth to comment, her light touch became an intensely tight grip on him, and he suddenly found himself unable to breathe.

"What are you doing?" he hissed, as she began to caress him.

Stephanie smirked at the surprise in his eyes as she once again leaned in close to him. "I don't know who you have me mistaken for, Chris, but I am not one of your fucking sluts that you're going to use and kick to the curb like you do every other thing that walks around here in a skirt," she whispered to him. He wanted to speak, but her grip on him was rendering speech impossible.

"Nothing to say, huh?" she asked, amused as she let him go. He let out a breath and took a step back from her, bending over a bit as he tried to calm himself down. She bent over a bit as well, putting her hands on her knees as she watched him. "Last time I checked, Chris, I wasn't blonde, and I'm not a fucking idiot… if you think I'm going to fall for your immature and sad attempts for me to spread my legs for you again, you have another fucking thing coming, you hear me, Chris Jericho?"

He bit his lip, keeping his mouth shut and staying bent over to not embarrass himself further. She smiled and straightened, before patting his shoulder.

"I'm glad we got that straightened out, now if you'll excuse me, I have to go find my boyfriend… have a nice night," she said in a cheerful tone as she walked away. He took a moment to gain his composure, before slowly straightening and looking over his shoulder at her walking away.

Oh yeah, she was different all right… no woman alive had ever spoken to him that way. Ever. A smirk started to spread on his face as he watched her disappear around a corner.

She was a challenge, but Chris Jericho thrived on challenges…

Stephanie had all but forgotten about Hunter after her little run-in with Chris. She felt rejuvenated though, put high on a pedestal after she had knocked the Canadian back down to reality. If he thought he could just put his moves on her the same way he put them on all the other bimbo whores on the roster, well, he was sorely, _sorely _mistaken.

_Men, they're all the same, _she thought to herself in satisfaction. Just then, she spotted a familiar looking man walking down the hall towards her, and she scowled as she recognized Hunter.

"Well, look who it is," she sneered as she marched up to him. "Are you done with your tantrum, or do you need yet another time-out?"

"You know what, I am getting really sick and tired of you talking to me like I'm a piece of dog shit," he said angrily, and she raised an eyebrow at this.

"Is that how you think I talk to you?"

"Do you even hear yourself?" he asked, staring at her in bewilderment. "You say you're the only one who loves me, well, I say I'm the only one who loves you."

She threw her head back in loud laughter at that, before looking back at him with amusement shining bright in her eyes. "Hunter, I have people who love me, get over yourself."

"Like who?" he challenged. "And family doesn't count."

Her smile faltered a bit as she racked her brain, putting one hand on her hip as she did. He had a smug smile on his face as he watched her, and it was absolutely infuriating to her. She could feel her McMahon temper kicking in, and it was threatening to spill over at any second.

"You know what, you smart ass?" she demanded.

"What?" he shot back.

"Maybe I don't need you to be the one who _loves _me," she said in disgust.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" he said as he frowned. "You want to break up?"

"Why the hell not?" she snapped. "We've been together for a year, that's a long time, Hunter. And since you're insinuating that you're the only one who's capable of loving me, well then, I have two words for you, baby… fuck you," she spit out angrily before turning and walking away. She smirked and began to count to five.

She got to three when he came up behind her and grabbed her arm.

_Hook, line, and sinker…_

"What do you want?" she demanded as she turned back to him. He sighed heavily, and she was expecting an apology from him, but what he said actually caught her off guard.

"I think you're right," he said, and she raised her eyebrows in surprise. "I think we could use a break or something."

"Are you serious?" she asked, not having been prepared for this.

"Yeah, I think it would help our relationship if we took a break… we fight a lot more than we used to, it'll be better in the long run, you know? And then when we finally --"

"You're fucking breaking up with me," she said in shock as the weight of the situation came down on her. She stared at him in disbelief. "Knock the bullshit and say what it is, Hunter, you want us to be over, don't you!"

"No, Steph…"

"Steph nothing!" she said as she pulled her arm free of his, tears stinging her eyes. "I wasn't serious but fine, we'll take a _break, _we'll take a permanent break!"

"Stephanie…" he pleaded, and she turned and ran away from him until she reached her dressing room. She immediately went inside before closing and locking the door behind her.

As soon as she was alone in her dressing room, she sighed and wiped the fake tears from her eyes. She had perfected her on-the-spot crying from a very young age… it always worked, it never failed.

She rolled her eyes, annoyed with the situation with Hunter. She had been satisfied with their relationship, but he was right. They did argue a lot, far too much for her liking. She would've preferred if he just never questioned her at all.

Sitting down on her sofa, she leaned back and began to strategize. After all, she was Stephanie McMahon, her brain slowed down for no one. After a while, she figured that a break would be good for her and Hunter. She would just have to find someway to make him beg to have her back, and then she'd eventually give in, and he'd treat her like a queen again. The way she deserved to be treated… and then she'd once again be on top, the champion's girlfriend, the power and status all hers for the taking.

All she needed now was a plan.


	3. Chapter 3

She was a woman on a mission, and heaven help the person who decided to fuck with her on this night. No, this night was going to be devoted to strategizing. She was going to find a way to make Hunter beg and plead to have her back by his side. She wanted to see him swallow his pride and admit that she was the best thing in his life and that he needed her. After all, she was Stephanie McMahon and she thrived on power. Her boyfriend, or ex-boyfriend as it now was, had that power, and she wanted it back.

All she needed was a plan. But what?

Looking around the backstage area, she frowned at the sight of the workers scurrying back and forth as they tried making sure the show would run without a hitch. Her mind though was racing, trying to piece together a plan as she methodically drummed her manicured nails on the table she was sitting on. It needed to be good because she would only get one chance to execute and get her point across to Hunter.

Maybe she could seduce him. She could sneak into his hotel room at night and turn him on, and as soon as he was rock hard and aching for her body, she could flip the switch and leave him cold. She laughed wildly at the thought, putting it off as a backup plan in case she couldn't think of something better. She was so busy strategizing that she didn't see the young female stagehand that approached her.

The young girl cleared her throat hesitantly, immediately catching Stephanie's glare.

"What is it?" the youngest McMahon snapped, not knowing who this new girl was and sure as hell not caring.

"You ordered this," the girl said nervously, handing her a tube of hand lotion. Stephanie took it and looked at it for a moment, before looking back up at the girl.

"Are you new?" she asked curiously, and the girl nodded. "What's your name?"

"Diana," the girl answered cautiously.

"Well, _Diana, _do you know who I am?" she demanded. Diana bit her tongue, now understanding why everyone had been wishing her good luck when she had been in charge of delivering Stephanie's hand lotion.

"Yes… you're Stephanie McMahon."

"Daughter of…?" Stephanie asked, raising her eyebrows as if she was speaking to a child.

"Vince McMahon," Diana answered cautiously.

"Good, you have more than half a brain," Stephanie sneered, before throwing the tube of lotion to the side. "Maybe next time you'll get me the _brand _I want, if you want to keep your job. Are we clear, Diana?"

"Crystal," she answered, feeling embarrassed.

"Good, now get out of my sight," Stephanie snapped, watching as the girl scurried away. She rolled her eyes, trying to figure out where she had been in her planning. She had been making such nice progress before she was rudely interrupted. Where was she? Ah yes, seducing Hunter and leaving him hanging in the wind. The thought brought a smile to her face.

"Nothing's ever good when you've got that smile on your face," a knowing voice said, and Stephanie looked to her side to see Chris smirking at her. His arms were folded over his chest, and his hair was neatly tied back into a ponytail as he lifted one hand to lower his sunglasses to see her better. "Always means you're about to fuck someone over, doesn't it?"

"You just wish it was you," she said as she rolled her eyes. "And how long have you been standing there? Are you trying to stalk me or something? How many times do I have to tell you that you're not getting me to lay down for you again?"

He snickered as he pushed his sunglasses back up his nose, looking at her in amusement. "My oh my, you sure have a high opinion of yourself, don't you Princess?"

"So I've been told," she said smugly.

"Hate to break it to you, but the world doesn't revolve around you," he said as he looked away from her. She frowned and followed his line of vision before finding that he was looking at Randy Orton as he spoke with Lilian Garcia. She watched them for a second, realizing that Randy was flirting with Lilian. Snorting in disgust, she turned back to look at Chris who had a scowl on his face.

"Jealous of Randy?" she asked snidely, and his eyes immediately came back on her. There was a brief flash of surprise on his face, before his cool demeanor came back.

"I would be, if there was something to be jealous of," he answered smoothly.

"He's good looking."

"Why be good looking when you can be fucking hot," he said with a smirk as Stephanie rolled her eyes.

"He's got game," she said as she raised an eyebrow, challenging him to refute that. He just shrugged, an easy smile spreading to his face.

"But I invented it."

"You're fucking impossible," Stephanie said in disgust as she got off the table. "I've got way more important business to tend to than to listen to you worship yourself all day."

"Like go beg Daddy to give your boyfriend an easy match?" he challenged, and she sucked at her teeth as she turned to look at him.

"You are on a roll today, aren't you? Do you want me that bad, Chris?" she asked, a hint of a smirk on her face.

He shrugged lazily even though he had a wide grin on his face. "For not wanting to fuck around, you sure are bringing it up a lot… is he not getting the job done for you Princess? Do you need some Vitamin C?" he asked, stepping towards her slowly. "Cause I'm right here…"

She pretended to think about it for a moment, rubbing her chin in feigned thought. "Hmm, well, how about while I go be productive, you take care of your man-whore needs and make your hand your best friend?" she said as she gave him a charming smile, before turning and walking away from him. He rolled his eyes, snorting a little as he watched her walk away. Far from undeterred, he was more intrigued than before. He shot Randy and Lilian another look, before smirking and walking away himself.

Stephanie turned around a corner down one of the hallways, trying to get her thoughts back on track. What the hell had she been thinking about before Chris had interrupted her? Ah yes, the plan. She kept getting sidetracked, and it was starting to piss her the hell off. She needed to be prepared to deal with Hunter. What if he just snuck up on her and she was unprepared? Then she'd look like a fool, and Stephanie would rather have jumped off the nearest bridge than subject herself to look like a fool in front of Hunter.

Just then, she groaned at the sight of the man himself looking in her direction. Cursing under her breath, she kept walking as if she didn't see him, even though she could feel him looking at her. Finally, just as she was about to walk past him, he dismissed himself from the workers he was speaking to and stepped over in front of her, blocking her path. She sighed, looking away as he did. This was not good timing, she had wasted time and now she didn't have a plan to deal with him.

"Steph, hey," he said with a cautious smile as she turned her gaze back on him.

"What do you want, Hunter?" she demanded, and now it was his turn to sigh.

"You haven't been returning my calls," he said with a frown, and she just shrugged. "Stephanie, come on. I don't want to do this, can we just forget it and move on?"

"Nope," she said as she folded her arms over in front of her. "Not until you apologize."

"For what? I didn't even say anything," he stated defensively, which was the wrong tone to take with her on this night. Her eyes narrowed angrily as she glared at him.

"Well, you know what?" she started, words tumbling before she could really stop herself. "Maybe I'm already exploring other options, maybe I've already found someone else."

He laughed loudly at that, making her scowl. "Please, Steph, now you're just trying to make me jealous. You don't have anyone, come on, it's only been three days."

"What are you saying?" she asked dangerously, her eyes boring into his. "Oh that's right, you said you're the only one capable of loving me, that's right," she said as she nodded. "You don't think I'm capable of having moved on, well, I happen to have found someone who loves me, Hunter. What do you think about that?"

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah right. Look, can we just put this behind us?"

"No, we cannot just put this behind us, you think I'm unlovable, and you want me to just forget it!" she yelled at him, and he sighed and ran both hands through his hair as he gazed at her in frustration. "And for your information, I _have _moved on, you're not the only one around here who wants me."

"Oh really?" he challenged. "Then where is Mr. Prince Charming? Oh, that's right, he's not here, because he doesn't exist since you're making this up to make me feel jealous," he stated as he rolled his eyes. Stephanie was momentarily shocked that he really didn't believe her, before wiping the surprise from her face. Of course it was a lie, but she didn't think he'd actually call her bluff. Now it was too late to back down, lest she look like a fool and give him the upper hand in this game of power.

"Fine," she finally said, "I'll prove it to you."

He groaned as he tilted his head back, "Steph, come on…"

But she was already sauntering away from him, inwardly cursing that she had come up with this stupid idea on the fly. Well, it really wasn't a stupid idea to find someone to use for a while to make Hunter burn with jealousy... it _was, _however, foolish to dive into the plan without someone in mind to play the role of new and loving boyfriend. Now she was forced to think quickly since Hunter had forced her hand prematurely. She mentally started going through a list of the males that worked for the company, wondering who would fit the bill.

Who could she get to play the role? Who was good-looking enough so that she could fake legitimate interest in? Who was interested enough in her to make it work? Who did Hunter hate enough to make him furious to see her with?

Randy Orton perhaps? She rolled her eyes at the thought. Hunter knew that she hated dating younger people than her, and so he would see through her charade easily.

Suddenly, a smile came to her face as she thought of the perfect candidate.

* * *

"It's not you, Torrie, it's me…"

"How can you say that?" Torrie demanded in disbelief as he shrugged.

"It's true, I need space to breathe, I'm really sorry," Chris said regretfully. "I think we're moving too fast, you know?"

"You weren't complaining when I stayed the night with you," she said in a low voice, and again, he just shrugged.

"We got carried away," he lied, inwardly knowing he was pleased he had scored the blonde. "I'm a sensitive guy, Torrie, I can't just get attached to anyone so quickly, please try to understand," he said sympathetically, and she frowned, feeling herself melt under his gaze.

"Alright… we'll take a break," she said with a hint of a smile. He grinned and brushed her hair back, tucking it behind her ear before letting his fingers trail slowly down the side of her face, making her shudder.

"Thanks Tore, I'll make it up to you in due time," he said with a wink before turning and walking away. He couldn't help but smirk, impressed with himself that he had gotten out of that. He knew he wasn't going to "make it up" to her anytime soon, unless he was that desperate to get laid. Even he had his standards though. Snickering to himself, he headed back to his locker room, where he knew someone was already waiting for him…

Moments later, Stephanie found herself somewhere she didn't think she'd ever go to voluntarily. She braced herself to deal with this man's ego, hoping that her plan worked. She didn't know how she hadn't thought of him first, seeing as how he was perhaps the perfect candidate for her plan. Hunter hated him perhaps more than anyone, and it would drive him up the wall to see her hanging off of his arm. That thought made her smile as she pushed open the door to Chris's locker room.

That smile was quickly replaced by a look of disgust at the sight of a girl sitting in his locker room. And not just any girl. She raised an eyebrow at the sight of one particular ring announcer that had been in Chris's sights earlier.

"Lilian?" she asked dumbly, as Lilian stood up, her face turning bright red with embarrassment.

"Stephanie, I was just waiting to give Chris a message…"

"Yeah, I'm sure you were going to give him a lot of things," Stephanie responded snidely. "Would you do me the pleasure of getting the hell out of here and doing your job, before I find a reason to make you get the hell out permanently?"

Lilian didn't have to be told twice, and Stephanie watched as she walked past her and out of the locker room. Shaking her head in amusement, she suddenly became aware that there was a shower running. Rolling her eyes, she figured she'd have a seat and wait for him to be done so they could have a chat…

It turned out she didn't have to wait long. Not even two minutes after she sat down, the water stopped running. Several moments later, Chris opened the door and stepped out, clad only in a towel that was wrapped loosely around his waist. He saw her sitting there, and did a double-take, before giving her a wide smile.

"Hey, don't tell me you ran Lilian out of here," he said with a chuckle. She rolled her eyes.

"You can do better."

"Ah, Princess, I was just trying to show her a good time… now, to what do I owe the pleasure?" he asked, noting how her eyes were roaming over his body. His smile grew as he saw her so blatantly checking him out, and he let her have her eye candy for few seconds. "You like what you see?" he asked huskily, his hand going to his towel. "You're practically ripping this towel off my body with your eyes… are you in that much need of Vitamin C?" Stephanie blinked and snapped out of it, standing and giving him a cool look.

"Maybe I am," she said coyly as she took a step towards him, and now it was his turn to be shocked.

"Oh really?" he asked, watching her approach him.

"Really," she said seductively as she stood in front of him, her eyes giving him the once-over. Oh yes, she could get used to him. He looked at her with intrigue as she ran a hand through his damp hair. "You're right, you are fucking hot Chris…"

He snickered as he reached up and grabbed her hand, before pulling her roughly against him. Her breath caught in her throat at the sensation of his bare wet skin against her, and she watched as he leaned in towards her lips. She fought the smirk off her face, telling herself that this was going to be too easy as she waited for his kiss. However, he stopped millimeters away from her lips, a knowing smirk on his own face as he studied her expecting face.

"What are you up to?" he whispered, amusement in his voice.

"Nothing, I just realized you were right…" she said as she sought out his lips. He didn't resist, granting her access to his mouth as she expertly slipped in her tongue while cupping his face in her hands. He moaned at the sensation, loving how she knew exactly what she was doing. He let it go for a while, before reluctantly pulling away from her and looking at her with intrigue as they tried catching their breaths.

"You're up to something," he said knowingly, and she rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"I am not," she stated, and he shook his head.

"Weren't you the one who told me to make my hand my best friend?" he asked, a smirk creeping on his face. "You're up to something… you're not the kind to change your mind so fast."

"You say that like you know me."

"Maybe I do," he replied, looking her right in the eye. "Maybe I could see a mile away that you came in here wanting to use me for something… you say you've heard about me, well, I've heard about you as well."

"Oh really?" she asked in intrigue, and he nodded innocently.

"Really, so tell me, why are you _really_ here?" he asked, and she looked at him for a moment. He had already mentioned the prospect that she would be using him, and he hadn't kicked her out of his locker room. She was momentarily impressed, before pondering whether or not to tell him the truth. She took at his arrogant and triumphant expression, and figured if anyone could handle the truth, it was him.

"I need someone to help me make Hunter jealous," she stated bluntly, watching him carefully for his reaction. He simply raised an eyebrow in amusement.

"You two have a fight?" he asked curiously.

"I want him to appreciate me for a change," she said bitterly as she remembered her ex-boyfriend. "I want to see him beg to have me back…"

Chris was taken aback by her boldness. She had impressed him with it a week prior when they had slept together with her practically challenging him into it, and then a few days before when she had practically molested him right in the middle of the hallway. Now here she was, in his locker room after having insulted him earlier, trying to recruit him to be a part of some plan. She was readily admitting it, and he had to hand it to her, she was a bold woman.

He happened to find that incredibly hot…

"So you want me to help you do this," he said as he put it all together. She nodded, reaching up to his hair again as he snickered. "Well Princess, as much as I appreciate the thought, I'm not usually the kind who lets some girl use him."

"Oh, that's right, it's usually the other way around right?" she asked snidely, and he chuckled.

"I didn't say I wasn't up to it, Stephanie" he said with a smile. She blinked back in surprise, before smiling herself.

"Good, I knew you'd see things my way," she said coyly, before turning to walk out of the room. "How about you get dressed and then come by my office, and we'll talk?" she said, not looking back at him. He immediately came up behind her, not about to let her leave so fast.

"Do I unnerve you, Stephanie McMahon?" he whispered from behind her as she felt him wrap an arm around her waist from behind. Her heart skipped a beat at the contact, before she regained control and turned to look at him and his maddening smirk.

"Never," she said defiantly.

"Then let's talk here," he suggested. "Unless, my state of undress is getting to you…" he suggested, amused as she pulled out of his hold and turned to look at him. She snorted and folded her arms over in front of her, looking at him with disinterest.

"Fine, let's talk here."

"You really want to do this?" he asked curiously.

"Yes," she immediately answered. "I want to show him that you don't fuck around with Stephanie McMahon, and I want him to beg to have me back. I want him to appreciate me again, Chris, and so if we pretend like we have something, he'll see how much he wants me back and he'll be wrapped around this little finger," she said innocently as she raised her pinky finger for him to see.

"So I really have to pretend to be into you, huh?" he asked, intrigued by this idea.

"Oh yeah," she said with an evil looking smirk. "You have to treat me like you love me."

He sucked at his teeth, before licking his lips as he took a step towards her. "You know, Steph, this idea is brilliant and all, but I fail to see how I'm going to benefit from it. After all, if you thought you were just going to come in here and have me fall for you like you do everyone else, you were mistaken. And if you thought by telling me your agenda, I'm still going to follow you blindly into it, then you're even more sorely mistaken. You're not going to use me like you use all these other jackasses, Stephanie," he whispered, standing close to her again as she looked at him intently. "I want something in return."

"Like what?" she asked, and he just smirked. "Oh, how stupid of me," she said sarcastically. "You want sex, don't you?"

He snickered. "My my, so eager to get yourself some Vitamin C… if you insist though, I'll oblige…"

She licked her lips as she looked him over, not entirely turned off by the idea. He was hot, so it wasn't like she had to imagine someone else's face when she looked at him. And not only was he hot, but he was good at what he did, and so she wasn't put off by the idea of having him at her whim and call to satisfy her needs while she made Hunter squirm in jealousy.

"Alright," she responded with a shrug, making him blink in surprise.

"Really?" he asked, looking at her critically. "That's it?"

"No, there is one condition… if you want this body of mine, then you'll get it, under one condition."

"What is it?" he asked, not knowing what to expect as she reached up to him, letting her thumb run gently over his top lip.

"If we do this, then you are not to see any other girls, except me," she whispered, and he pulled back from her hand as if it suddenly burned him.

"I don't do commitment," he stated, leaving no room for argument. "So if that's your condition, fuck it, I'm out."

"I don't give a shit about commitment, I just don't want to catch some disease you'll pick up from one of your whores. I'm just looking out for me, like I always do," she said with a smirk.

"It sounds like a commitment to me," he mumbled as he scowled, crossing his arms over his chest. "I'm not doing it."

Stephanie rolled her eyes as she walked around him slowly, now standing behind him. She put both of her hands on his shoulders, before slowly trailing her hands down over the muscles of his back. She loved how he was warm all over, again telling herself that she could get used to this arrangement.

"I'll make it worth your time," she said in a low tone, and he looked at her over his shoulder.

"Oh really?"

"You doubt me?"

"Perhaps," he lied smoothly, not wanting to admit that he had been wanting to get her into his bed ever since the previous week. He still didn't know what made her different, and he wanted to find out. It was enough to make him be loyal to her for as long as it took, just to find out. "How long would this arrangement last?"

"As long as it takes to break Hunter down," she said with a mischievous look in her eye as she walked around to face him again, one hand still on his shoulder. She brought her hand up to the side of his face as she leaned in again. "So are you in, or do I have to find someone better?"

Tired of her teasing, he leaned in and caught her lips in his, fully exploring her mouth this time as he took control of the kiss. She sighed against his lips, loving the way he kissed and once again reminded of how good he really was. She loved the feel of his hands snaking around her, pulling her closer against him. Finally, he pulled back a little, noting how she looked almost dazed by his kiss. He nodded slowly.

"Alright, I'm in," he told her, surprising her.

"Really?" she asked as she caught her breath, and he nodded as he smiled.

"You got yourself a deal, Princess."


	4. Chapter 4

Chris was leaning against his rental car outside of the arena, waiting. He frowned and checked his watch, noting that she was ten minutes late. He wondered if she was the kind who was usually late, and he couldn't help but grin at the thought that he'd soon be finding out. Their plan was set to get underway that night, and he was itching for it to "officially" begin.

It had been all of one week. One week that she had given him to get rid of all his other cheap lays, get them all out of his life. He crossed his arms over his chest, snickering lightly. He hadn't needed a week. Instead, he had gotten laid a few more times and then left those girls high and dry like he normally did. He smiled at the thought of replacing them all with one fiery McMahon.

Yes, he was moving up in the world.

Finally, he saw a limo pull up a few feet ahead of him. He stayed in his cool position, watching intently as his heart started to pound. He was going to have one girl from now on, and the thought excited and simultaneously unnerved him. He blew a bubble with his gum as he watched the limo driver open the door.

One smooth leg came out and settled the heel of its stiletto on the concrete ground. Chris tilted his head at the sight and lowered his shades a bit as the other leg followed, and then the limo driver helped her climb out. She straightened and flicked her curled hair over her shoulder, an air of confidence around her. Her eyes scanned the parking lot and soon fell on him, and he gave her a smirk and a wave. She matched his smirk and blew him a kiss, and he chuckled as he pushed himself off his car and sauntered over to her.

"My, Princess, little late are we?"

"Deal with it," she said as her limo driver began unloading her luggage. He gave her the once-over as he approached her.

"The more and more I think of this arrangement, the more I seem to like it," he said as he licked his lips. She rolled her eyes as she folded her arms over in front of her.

"Did you rid those other whores from your life like I told you to?"

"Of course, anything for you," he said smoothly as he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her a little closer to him. "You're my girl now…"

"Getting into character, are we?" she teased, reaching a hand up to his face and cupping his chin in her hand. "Just remember, _sweetie, _this is just an arrangement to have us both get what we want."

He snorted. "I know, what, you think I'm about to fall in love with you? Give me a fucking break, that's not about to happen."

"Good," she said, patting his cheek twice before pulling away from him completely. She turned towards her limo driver, "Hey George, I need you to move all my luggage into my boyfriend's car, so would you hurry up and do that for me? Thanks," she said, faking sweetness as she took Chris's hand in hers as he rolled his eyes in amusement behind his shades.

She pulled him for a few steps before he stopped walking. "Um, excuse me, what the fuck do you think you're doing, Stephanie?" he demanded as she turned to look at him.

"What the hell are you talking about?" she asked as he slowly raised his shades to perch them on the top of his head. She took the moment to let her eyes trail over his opened shirt, appreciating the view before smoothly looking back up to him.

"I don't know how the hell you do things with that bitch of an ex, Hunter," he told her as he chewed his gum, "But _I _lead the way around here, got it?"

With that, he started walking, but she stopped. He turned and raised an eyebrow as she gave him a cool look. "And I don't know what kind of sluts you usually walk around with, but I lead the way when we're in public, you got that?"

They both stared at each other for a moment as Stephanie's limo driver pulled away, before Chris chuckled and stepped back towards her, letting go of her hand in the process.

"Look, Princess," he said snidely. "If you want this plan of yours to work, then you have to follow my lead, you get what I'm saying?"

"I don't know who the fuck you think you're talking to, Chris Jericho," she told him in a tone that matched his. "But I'm the one in charge of our little façade of a relationship to the world, mmkay, sweetie?"

"Oh no, no no no, that's not how this works."

"Yes, that's how it fucking works."

He chomped on his gum angrily, "You need me to make this work, if you want this to believable, then listen to what the fuck I'm telling you."

"I don't need _you, _Chris, but I think you need me," she said flirtatiously as she readjusted her halter top. His eyes instantly went to her chest and she smirked as she stepped up towards him, her hand grabbing onto the waistband of his pants. She licked her lips when she saw the pure lust in his eyes, and she was momentarily impressed that he could have this effect by simply looking at her. "So let's get this straight, okay baby?"

"Yeah, let's," he said, leaning forward to kiss her when she got a finger up to stop his lips right before they came down on her own.

"Nuh uh, hang on a second, we're trying to straighten this out," she said as he looked at her in a mixture of surprise and confusion. She grinned, willing to bet that he had never been stopped before from doing as he wanted. "When we walk through those doors, you're my new boyfriend who's _madly _in love with me," she said dramatically, and he rolled his eyes. "But, _I _am in charge, do you understand?"

"I think you're mista-"

"Hang on, I'm not done yet," she said as she let go of the waistband of his pants and brought her arms up to wrap around his neck. He instinctively grabbed her by the hips and pulled her snugly against him, and she could practically feel his heat. It was almost enough to make her give into him, and she had to wonder very briefly when the last time that Hunter got to her this way was. She couldn't even remember it.

"I'm waiting," he said, a slow smirk creeping onto his face. "Just waiting, baby, take your time."

"When we're not putting on our little charade… that's when _you're _in charge," she told him, and his eyes flashed with triumph at that. "We both get what we want… is that okay with you, your highness?"

"Oh yeah," he said huskily. "And right now, the charade hasn't even begun, so I'm in charge…" he said as he brushed her hair back. She closed her eyes as his hand came on the back of her neck and pulled her right into his kiss. She hated to admit it, but she loved how she could feel his heartbeat racing as he held her close while he deepened the kiss.

"Chris," she said breathlessly as he moved to kiss her neck. He was hitting all the right spots and he was starting to arouse her, and she couldn't, not right then. That thought was the sobering though that made her push his shoulders back firmly, forcing his lips to leave her skin. "We have a plan right now."

"I want you," he told her honestly, and she smirked at that.

"I know… everyone wants a piece of me, but unlike you, I don't throw myself around for anyone to get a taste of me." He matched her smirk as she reached up to wipe her lipstick off his lips.

"I'll give you that, I do get a lot more action than you do."

She rolled her eyes, "You're such a manwhore."

He chuckled at that as she took her hand in his and led them inside.

Except this time, there wasn't a word of complaint coming from him.

* * *

Hunter was waiting impatiently for Stephanie to arrive as he paced in her office for the night. Since they had broken up, she had requested her own space from her father and of course, being her father's little girl, she got it. But that's what he loved about her. She always got what she wanted. She had wanted him, and Lord, had she hooked him that night she came onto him for the first time… he had always considered her to be some goody-two-shoes innocent little girl, but that night, he had seen her for who she truly was.

A manipulative bitch who stepped on anyone to get her way.

She was his kind of woman.

A moment later, Stephanie entered her office with that confidence radiating from her, that addictive and maddening confidence that made any man take notice. He gave her a smile, but she gave him a look of annoyance.

"What the hell do you want?" she demanded as she walked inside and to her desk.

"Steph," he said with a sigh as he readjusted the championship belt over his shoulder. "Look, you haven't talked to me in what, like ten days, can we just talk?"

She sighed dramatically as she sat down in her leather reclining chair behind her desk. She leaned back in it and folded her hands in her laps as she slowly raised one of her legs onto her desk. Knowing exactly what she was doing, she raised the other and crossed it over, before looking at him and catching him blatantly checking her out. She smirked knowingly before clearing her throat.

"What's there to talk about, Hunter?" she asked calmly.

"I just want to talk about us."

"Us? There's no us anymore."

"Steph," he sighed. "I'm sorry, okay? Can we just move on -"

"Ah, but I already have, didn't I tell you? I thought I did," she said, feigning confusion. "I could've sworn I told you I had someone else."

He exhaled through his nostrils, not enjoying this game they were playing. He just wanted things to go back to normal but she was making it extremely hard on him.

"I don't believe that."

She nodded sadly, "Well that's a shame, I don't know what I can say to convince you."

"What do you want, Stephanie?" he asked, clearly frustrated. "What the hell do you want me to say? You want me to grovel?" She shrugged, and he scoffed, "I'm not _groveling _for you to take me back. If you want to be alone, then be alone. You don't even have anyone else besides me, and you want me to believe you actually have someone new? Give me a break," he snorted.

Just then, a knock came on the door. Hunter turned as Chris opened the door and poked his head inside.

"Wow," Chris said, impression in his voice. "Trips, dressed a few years late for the release of _Planet of the Apes, _are we?"

"What the hell do you want?" Hunter demanded angrily. "I'm having a discussion with my girlfriend, so get the hell out of here before I make you regret ever coming by, Jericho."

"Oh, who's the girlfriend?" Chris said, leaning in a little more to see Stephanie sitting there. She gave him a smirk, and he nodded in approval. "Ah, the Princess herself… I'll give you this, Trips, you've got good taste."

"Thanks," Hunter said sarcastically. "Now do you mind, Jericho?"

"Not at all," Chris said, and Hunter turned back to continue his discussion with Stephanie. Chris gave her a wink behind Hunter's back and lowered his sunglasses back on, before disappearing and closing the door behind him.

"Hunter," she said with a dramatic sigh. "I have a lot of work to do, I'd appreciate it if you left me alone."

"No, I'm not leaving until we resolve this."

"There's nothing to fucking resolve, you said what you had to say," she snapped bitterly. "You're going to put me in a bad mood and that doesn't spell well for anyone, least of all you, so get the fuck out of my locker room. Don't make me say it again."

Hunter was about to respond when the door opened again. He turned and practically snarled in annoyance at the sight of Chris walking in. The Canadian gave him a courteous nod, one hand inside of his open shirt as he walked around him and towards Stephanie's desk.

"What the hell did I tell you, you blond jackass?" Hunter growled angrily as Chris ignored him as he walked around Stephanie's desk. She lowered her legs slowly, making him stop for a moment and appreciate the view.

"Can I help you?" she asked him, and he smiled as he knelt down in front of her.

"You most certainly can, gorgeous," he said as he took his hand out his shirt and showed her a rose that he was holding. "I found this lying around, and I was wondering if you knew who I could give it to." She took it from him to examine it as he put his hands on the handles of her chair. "Just bear in mind, she has to be stunning, ravishing, beautiful, a goddess among us mere mortals."

"Oh, such high standards?" she asked coyly as she raised the rose to her nose. "Mmm, it smells lovely, Chris."

"Well, if you think so, then you can keep it… you fit the description of the girl I was looking for," he told her smoothly. Hunter's look of shock at this display turned into a look of pure disgust as Stephanie put the rose on her desk and took Chris's face in her hands, leaning down to kiss him hungrily. He kissed her back just as eagerly as Hunter resisted the urge to vomit.

"Are you fucking serious?" he demanded, finally finding his voice although he was ignored. He waited a moment but they didn't seem like they were about to stop any time soon. When Chris slipped his shirt off and lifted himself off the floor to come down on top of her, forcing her chair to recline all the way back, he had had enough and turned to angrily leave. He slammed the door behind him as Stephanie entangled her fingers in Chris's hair.

"Oh God," Stephanie laughed, pulling away from Chris even though he just moved lower, his lips not leaving her this time. "Did you see the fucking look on his face?"

"Uh huh," he said absent-mindedly as he slowly started pulling her halter top down. She pulled away from him again, this time completely spinning her chair and forcing him to stand angrily. "What the fuck, Stephanie?"

"Oh stop it, you can wait until tonight," she told him and he rolled his eyes. "What?" she asked, seeing the annoyed look on his face.

"I don't want to fucking wait until tonight," he informed her, and she shrugged.

"That's too bad, cause I was planning on not getting any sleep tonight to… reward you for your services tonight," she said teasingly as he slowly pulled shirt back on, a smirk on his face.

"I guess I can wait until tonight then."

"And besides, I'm not falling for your tricks, I'm not like your regular bimbo whores who fall for you with just a look. Nope, I am immune to you, Chris Jericho."

"Is that a fact?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"That's a fact, it's like you said earlier," she told him, raising her own eyebrow in defiance. "If you think I'm about to fall maddeningly in love with you, you're out of your fucking mind and you got hit too hard in the head the last time you stepped into the ring."

He snorted, laughing as he grabbed her chair and spun her back around to face him. She glared at him as he placed a hand on each chair handle next to her, leaning down closer to her.

"I haven't met a girl yet that I can't make fall for me," he said arrogantly. She smirked and reached out to him, letting a finger trail across his lips. Lips he sure as hell knew how to use.

"Say hello to her," she told him, and he was stunned, annoyed, frustrated, but mostly turned on by her attitude. Everything he had ever heard about her was true, and he was loving it. He once again came down on her, going to her neck and kissing her as he rubbed against her.

"I can make you fall fucking hard for me," he whispered against her, sending chills down her spine. "You'll want me so damn much, you'll have me fucking you in your dreams too."

"I don't know baby, feels like you're the one dying to have me," she said arrogantly, even though she pulled him closer. "And by the way," she whispered to him as he once again started to remove his shirt.

"Yeah?" he mumbled against her skin as he wrapped his arms around her and lifted her up off the chair. Just like that, he reversed their positions so she was on top of him as he sat on her chair instead. He immediately went to resume his kissing and caressing before she stood up and began straightening her hair.

"I haven't met a man who hasn't wanted to marry me after I got through with him," she told him with a knowing smile as he groaned from the loss of contact. "What's the matter? Falling for me already? Are you going to start pining for me already, Chris?"

He scoffed at that as he took several deep breaths to regain his cool. "Whatever."

"Whatever? Wow, are we at a loss of words, Chris?" she said with a grin. She stepped to him and ran her fingers through her hair, teasing him, and for the life of him, he could not remember the last time a girl had affected him so much. "Just so you know, the time for your fun is _after _the show… as good as you are, and sweetie, you're good at what you do, but having my father come in to see you fucking me on my desk is not the kind of impact I want this plan to have."

He rolled his eyes as she bent over a little to make eye contact with him, resting her hands on her knees. He looked at her, scowling at her when he saw the teasing in her eyes.

"But if you want to do something while there's a show going on, you better try a lot harder than that… you have to try for some girls, hopefully you understand that concept," she told him with a smirk, before straightening and walking around her desk towards the door. "Good luck with your match tonight, don't get too injured… I want my fun later, so you know." She turned to momentarily blow him a kiss, "And come find me, so we can show everyone how much you _love _me… while it's still an act."

"How about we make things interesting?" he said, finally finding his voice right before she left the room. He gave her a cool look as he reclined in her chair, kicking his feet up on her desk and crossing his arms behind his head.

"What do you mean?" she asked, clearly intrigued.

"Let's see if you're as good as you say, McMahon," he told her with a grin. "Let's make this plan… more _fun, _besides kicking Trips in the balls with it. Don't get me wrong, that's fun too, but I don't need you to do that, now do I?"

She licked her lips as she folded her arms in front of her. "What's on your mind?"

"Let's see if you can make me fall for you like you say," he said with a smirk.

She laughed loudly at that, "What, you think I can't?"

"I _know _you can't."

"And what are you going to do?" she scoffed. "Make me fall head over heels for you?" He nodded with his ever-present cocky smirk.

"I'm gonna have you not able to keep your hands off of me… you're going to want me fucking you all over this arena and then hell, maybe you'll propose to _me. _Wouldn't that be fun, Princess?"

"You're on, Jericho," she said, giving him an intrigued look as she opened the door. "I love you baby," she told him on the way out, making sure any passerby would hear.

"Love you too," he called out after her, grinning as he leaned back in her reclining chair. He sighed, gazing up at the ceiling.

Now things would start to get interesting.


	5. Chapter 5

Stephanie slowly opened her eyes, cursing at the light coming into her hotel room from the window. She looked around the bed, and groaned in annoyance when she saw that Chris wasn't there. She hoped he hadn't bailed on her or wasn't with some other girl, since that would be shooting their plan straight to hell. Normally that thought would've been enough for her to hunt him down, but instead, she decided a few more minutes of sleep would be better suited for her as she wrapped the sheets closer around her.

It only took a few seconds for a rich smell to hit her nose. She groggily lifted her head from her pillow, and her eyes settled on a silver tray that was on the nightstand next to the bed. There were fresh pancakes, eggs, and a variety of fruit on the tray. She looked around again to see if he was there, but he was nowhere in sight. Slowly, she maneuvered herself over to the edge of the bed, wrapped in blankets and all, and sat up to look down at her impromptu breakfast that was awaiting her. Next to the tray was a rose and a note, and she laughed when she saw it.

_He's good, _she told herself in amazement as she lifted the note, impressed with the gesture. She read his handwriting…

_Hey beautiful,_

_I know all this action with me must have you spent, so I figured I'd help you regain your energy for the show tonight… breakfast is the most important meal of the day after all!_

_And don't worry, I'm not off with some whore. I haven't hit the gym since our little arrangement, so I figured it was time to rectify that. I'll see you tonight at the show…_

_- Chris_

_PS – Falling for me yet?_

Stephanie snickered and tossed the note aside, before reaching for a fresh strawberry. She brought it up to her lips and took a small bite of it, relishing in the juice of it while thinking about Chris. He was definitely good, and if she had lacked half a brain, she supposed she would have fallen for his little tricks.

She looked down at her breakfast, her free hand instinctively securing the blankets around her while she tossed the rest of the strawberry in her mouth. She reached for another when she heard a chuckle from behind her.

"Someone's hungry, huh?"

She turned to see Chris standing at the door frame, leaning against it with a towel draped over one shoulder. He was wearing a white tank top with some sweat pants, a smirk on his face as she rolled her eyes.

"Waking up to breakfast, a nice touch I admit," she relented, turning away from him as she took a bite of her strawberry and looked over the food in front of her. "Now the question of the hour is how did you decide on making the eggs over easy?"

"First of all, I didn't make the breakfast, I ordered it," he said as he put his hands in his pockets.

"And here I thought it was a personalized gesture, I suppose I'm not even worth a home-cooked breakfast," Stephanie droned sadly as his smirk grew.

"Read my mind baby," he said smoothly as she rolled her eyes. "But to answer your question, your personality just screams over easy eggs."

"Ah, I see," she said as she reached for a slice of pineapple. She brought it up to her mouth and took a bite of it, her back to him as he watched her eat from the doorway. "So you talk to me and instead of thinking about how beautiful I am, how smart I am, or how powerful I am… or in your case, how soon you can get me in bed… the first and most important thing that comes to mind is that I must love my eggs over easy."

"Of course, when I first saw you way back when, that was the first thing that came to my mind… after all, you're my boss's daughter, I'd have to feed you _something _the morning after I got some, you know what I mean?" he asked cockily as she snickered and finished the piece of pineapple.

"Or you just have a good memory from us being business partners."

"Yeah, could be that too," he laughed, walking in and tossing the towel on a chair in the corner of the room. In one motion, he pulled off his tank top and tossed it on top of the towel. "You get my note?"

"I did."

"And?"

"And what?" she asked, picking up the fork and wedging off a piece of her pancakes with it.

"What do you say?"

She put the fork with the pancakes in her mouth to avoid answering the question, not looking over her shoulder at him but hearing him undress behind her. She could feel him watching her though, and so she just shrugged nonchalantly as she swallowed and reached for more.

"What do I say to the question you asked?"

"Of course," he said charmingly.

"Oh, you were actually serious with that note, I thought it was just you being a jackass as usual," she said with a hint of a smirk on her lips.

"Nope," he said, walking around the bed and coming to stand in front of her. He had a towel wrapped extremely loosely around his waist, another towel in his hands as he gave her a smile and extended his arms. "Well?"

"Well, a serious question deserves a serious answer, so let me think about it… hmm, well, guess the answer's no, but I do love these strawberries and I think you should do this more often," she said as she reached for another strawberry. He was faster though, snatching it up before she could grab it. She glanced up at him, catching his smirk as he winked at her.

"No, huh? That's all right, I'll change your mind soon enough," he said arrogantly as he bit into the strawberry. He looked at it, nodding his approval, "Tastes pretty good."

"I agree to the second, I wish you luck though on the first," Stephanie said in a cool tone as he snickered.

"I'm gonna take a shower, feel like joining me?" he asked, before tossing the rest of his strawberry in his mouth and straightening in front of her.

"Why Chris, even after last night, you still want more of me?" she asked, pretending to be impressed. He shrugged innocently, one hand on the top of his towel around his waist. This was relatively new to him in the sense that it had been a long time that he'd woken up to someone and stuck around. Usually by this time, he had already high-tailed it to the show and left the girl from last night as just that – a memory from last night, just someone to take care of him before he found the next one for the next night.

But there he was, still talking to the girl from last night. Only this time, the girl wasn't just any girl. She was sitting there wrapped up in his bed sheets, slowly eating her food and still giving him her old confident and in-charge attitude even after they had had sex practically all night the night before. She was daring, and bold to talk to him like that.

And he was starting to like it.

"Do you know how many girls would love the chance to fuck around with me? Millions, that's how many baby, millions," he said arrogantly.

"Hey, if ditzy blonde bimbos with an IQ of 20 do it for you, what can I do about it?"

"You don't fall into that category," he countered.

"And that's why you're standing in front of me, seconds from being completely naked, practically begging for a chance to get me again," she said with a smirk as she looked up at him. She gave him an innocent smile as she brought up a strawberry to her lips, sucking on the end of it as he sucked at his teeth.

"What, you think you're fucking irresistible now?" he asked, trying not to stare at the way she was sucking on her strawberry. She shrugged nonchalantly. "I'll have you snow, sweet cheeks, that you're nothing special baby, it was only a matter of time before you gave into me again and again and again…"

"Mhmm," Stephanie said disbelievingly, smacking her lips a little as she removed the strawberry from her mouth and looked at it, turning it in her hand. "You just keep telling yourself that, Chris. I think we both know here that you're the one who hasn't left me alone since that night you walked into my dressing room."

"Whatever," he scoffed.

"Face it, Chrissy baby," she said seductively and with an evil-looking smirk. "You can't get enough of me."

"Yeah, you wish," he said as he rolled his eyes and turned around, heading into the bathroom. He slammed the door shut behind him, annoyed by her and yet still somehow wanting her. Hell, if she had walked in right then after him, he would've ravished her and given into her.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, regaining his cool. If there was a word that described Chris Jericho, it was _cool_. He didn't give in; he got women to give in to _him, _not the other way around. Stephanie was trying to subtly turn the tables on him, and it wasn't going to work. He was the one in control, and that's how things were going to stay until their deal was done and she went back to Hunter, while he went back to nailing whoever he wanted, whenever he wanted.

He had hardly slid the shower door closed behind him when he heard the door open to the bathroom. He turned the water on, intrigued a little, "Change your mind so soon?"

Stephanie chuckled as she walked to the mirror, her robe loosely tied around her body as she observed her reflection carefully for any blemishes or imperfections with her skin. "There's this party I wanted to tell you about, you're going to come with me."

"Since when do you give me orders?"

"Since the day you signed a contract to work with my father."

"Call me crazy," he said as he stood right underneath the showerhead, his eyes closed, "I don't recall accompanying you to parties as being part of my contract."

"Well your contract has now been upgraded," she said as he smirked.

"Will there be booze and easy women?"

"It won't matter because you won't be getting drunk, and you won't be getting any, unless I decide to take pity on you."

He laughed heartedly at that and against her will, she smiled at the sound of it, "Oh, I get it, so everything from last night, you screaming for me to go faster and harder, that was all out of pity huh?"

"That's right, I knew you'd figure it out eventually... someone has to boost your ego every now and again," she said smugly while he laughed again.

"So what kind of party is it exactly?"

"It's a formal thing my parents are throwing for the company, it's mostly for the executive side of it, so there will be lots of higher-ups, people that make the company go."

"Ah, the worthless suited-up brass?"

"That's right, and I'm expected to be there, and as my boyfriend, you're going to come with me."

"Boyfriend huh? Is that my title now?"

"What would you prefer, my accomplice to fuck Hunter over until he caves in and begs to have me back?" Stephanie offered. He chuckled as he rubbed some shampoo into his scalp, lowering his head right underneath the water.

"I guess I still think of you as a business partner… with more benefits, of course," he laughed as Stephanie rolled her eyes.

"Well, it's in three weeks, and Hunter's going to be there, so I'm thinking three weeks is how long this arrangement is going to last."

"So you'll be leaving with Hunter after the party?"

"Ideally, if everything works out," she said, pulling away from the mirror that was getting fogged up and looking at the shower door. She could vaguely make out his form, but nothing specific.

"God, Chris, how hot is your shower?" she asked as she frowned.

"Off the charts, since it's me in here after all," he answered cockily.

"I can't even see my own damn reflection," she said, her voice annoyed.

"I'll save you the trouble, you're beautiful," he said as he smiled. "But anyways, I've got three weeks is what you're telling me."

"That's what I'm telling you."

"Well, I'll be Mr. Perfect to you in front of anyone that's worth a damn at work," Chris said, opening the shower door and surprising her as she turned to face him. He smirked, tilting his head as her eyes roamed over his body. "How about you hold up your end of the deal and get your pretty self in here and join me?" he asked as her eyes moved back up to meet his.

"Do you eat and breathe sex? Don't you think about something else?"

He opened the door more, smoothly leaning his forearm against the wall under the showerhead as he just gave her a look while her stomach fluttered a little. That damning look was making her lose her own cool, but his look wasn't wavering as he just watched her.

"What, are you just going to stand there until I get in there and join you?" she asked, and he silently nodded as she rolled her eyes. "You think you're that irresistible that I have no will-power around you?"

"Stop stalling and come over here," he said with a smirk.

"So now you give me orders?" she challenged.

"If you're going to make me go to some boring party with a bunch of old geezers gasping for their last breaths, then I deserve some kind of… compensation."

"I love how you're trying to make this sound sophisticated."

"Do you want me to say that I want to fuck the hell out of you, or do you want me to tell you that you're beautiful and I'd like you to join me? I'm trying to be a fucking gentleman over here."

"I like you better when you're a jackass," Stephanie said, untying her robe slowly as he looked on.

"I want to fuck the hell out of you, is that better?" he asked as she smirked. She couldn't help but enjoy the way that he was looking at her, his eyes practically predatory as he waited calmly for her to remove her robe. She couldn't remember the last time Hunter had been as insatiable as Chris. It seemed like the more she gave to Chris, the more and more he craved. It made them incredibly good together, so good in fact, that she was probably going to miss it for a few days once she went back to Hunter.

But while Chris craved her body, she craved power, and that was always going to be good enough for her.

"Brutal honesty, and the inability to keep away from me," Stephanie said admirably as she let her robe slip off her body and fall to the floor. Now it was his turn to give her a once-over as she approached him, a knowing smile on her face. "I like both."

"I figured," he said, trying to keep his cool as he side-stepped and let her step into the shower with him, closing the door as soon as she did. She gave him her back as she stood under the water for a few moments, letting it run over her while he licked his lips.

"Jesus, Chris, this water is fucking hot."

"What can I say, I like everything hot."

"Breakfast was a nice touch, it's no wonder you get so many stupid whores to fall for you," she commended, feeling him right behind her as he ran one finger down her bare back.

"I don't always get stupid whores," he said huskily. "I get the occasional smart, brunette, business woman to fall for me…"

"You're so fucking egotistical," she scoffed as he smirked. "I don't even know why you have this inflated opinion about yourself, you're not _that _talented…"

"Oh really?" he laughed, turning her around and backing her against the tiles of the bathroom wall. "I'll have you singing a different tune when I win our little game," he said, brushing her hair back and leaning in for a kiss. She kissed him back, their hair drenched as the water ran over their faces and he lifted her up so she could wrap her legs around him. They would've been hot enough, but with the heat from the shower, it was making them both feel like they were on fire.

"You're not going to win," she breathed against his lips, feeling him smirk against hers as he pressed his body against hers.

"We'll see about that, Princess."


	6. Chapter 6

Every game had its rules, and theirs was no different.

There was no manual to consult for the type of game Chris and Stephanie were playing. Their game was a dangerous combination of lust and greed, a twisted showing up of one another in a game where no one else was watching. Nonetheless, there were rules that governed the arrangement the two had agreed on, rules that tried to limit their "game" to some normal standards (normal to them, anyways). The rules had been spoken only once, but there were other rules that were unspoken and mostly understood.

At least, Stephanie had been under that impression. Apparently the other half of her arrangement had thought otherwise. Not only that, but he had taken it upon himself to go ahead and break one of those unwritten rules. Punishment always awaited a person who broke a rule in a game, and it would be absolutely no different here.

Chris had broken a rule, and now Stephanie was going to see that he paid the price.

"What the fuck is your problem?" Chris sneered as they walked towards the dressing room they were sharing that evening.

"Just shut the fuck up before I see to it that you never sniff championship gold again," Stephanie said in a cool and warning voice as she walked about a half-step in front of him. Chris was fuming behind her, hating the cool indifference she was exhibiting towards him.

"You've been giving me shit since we got in the car, and I fucking want to know why," Chris demanded, his voice low so no one else could hear as Stephanie found their dressing room.

"Look, don't worry about it, you just worry about holding up your end of the deal," she told him as she headed towards the desk in the room. He rolled his eyes as he shut the door closed behind him.

"I held up my end of the deal last night," he said, his voice deepening a bit.

"No, see, that's where you're wrong, Jericho," Stephanie snapped. "That wasn't you holding up your end, that was _me _holding up _my _end of the deal last night, okay? What the fuck have you done for me?" He was a little caught off by the fact that she seemed genuinely angry with him, and it had him momentarily tongue-tied. She of course took his momentary silence to continue, "That's right, nothing. So shut the fuck up and just do what you said you would do, is that fine or is that too much for you now?"

Chris looked confused for a moment, before his eyes suddenly widened as realization dawned on him, "Oh… _oh, _oh, I know why you're mad," he said, making her look back at him while she emptied our her bag of all the paperwork she had brought with her. She had a lot of work to catch up on, since Chris took up a lot of her time outside of work… or all her time, rather. Not that she was complaining about that time spent, because she was currently enjoying the best sex of her life, but she_did_ still have a job after all. Chris watched her knowingly, a huge smirk coming over his face when she looked over at him, "Steph, Stephy baby, I can't believe you're mad that --"

"I'm not mad, I'm annoyed, we had rules," she snapped again. "And when you don't follow the fucking rules, then you're putting our plan at risk, but you don't see that because all you ever see is the fastest way to get laid. You don't fucking think, that's your problem."

Chris chuckled, "That's what you're saying, I hear you saying these words, but you're covering, Princess."

"What?" Stephanie shot back angrily as he slowly walked over, one hand nonchalantly unbuttoning his shirt. Her eyes were burning with anger, the grayish blue burning with a fire that felt like it was igniting his entire body. He smirked, knowing exactly why she was angry, and loving every last second of it.

"That's not why you're mad," he said knowingly. She scoffed as he walked around her desk, one hand finishing unbuttoning his shirt while his eyes unbuttoned hers.

"I fucking told you why I'm mad, because you're putting this whole fucking plan at risk when you --"

"When I what?" he whispered in her ear, the feel of his warm breath tingling in her ear sending chills down her spine. When the hell had he gotten so close to her? He smirked when he saw her shudder a little. He was definitely, definitely winning this game, there was no doubt at all in his mind. He was going to make her break and fall for him, the only woman who had ever evaded him, she was going to be eating from the palm of his hand and he was going to love it.

He leaned into her a little, kissing the back of her ear while he slowly pressed himself against her from behind. "Talk to me, Princess, tell me the real reason why you're mad," he whispered, absolutely loving that he actually had her momentarily unable to respond. He was turning her on, and they both knew it, and Stephanie deep down was pissed that he was gaining the upper hand.

But damn did he feel so, so good.

"I already told you," she breathed out as he wrapped his arms around her from behind, pulling her closer against him. He slipped one hand up her shirt, slowly caressing the skin he exposed while he creeped up, making her lean completely against him while he gently bit her ear as his other hand slipped down inside of her dress pants. She leaned her head back on his shoulder as a moan escaped her, his touch felt so good.

"You saw me talking to Lillian, didn't you?" he whispered as his hand that was moving up found her breasts. The anger inside of her flared at his words, but his hand slipping underneath her bra so expertly, so smoothly, she couldn't think anymore. She cursed mentally, knowing she was giving him the upper hand, she shouldn't have let him near her at all.

"Yes," she answered breathlessly while he hit a particularly sensitive spot. He smiled against her neck. She was completely at his mercy, and if they had had a scoreboard keeping a numerical score of their little game, he would be currently ahead by around a hundred points.

"You're jealous," he whispered knowingly, teasing her. "Well, don't be…"

She bit her lip, holding back a moan, his touch teasing her and making her crave him the way Hunter never could do. She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down… she could _not _give in now, or she was never going to hear the end of it…

There came a knock on the door followed by a voice, "Ms. McMahon?" She immediately pulled away from Chris, just as the door opened and a technician walked inside, "Mr. McMahon sent me to – oh, oh my goodness, I'm so sorry," he said, immediately turning a shade of red as he saw just how flustered both Chris and Stephanie were getting.

"Haven't you ever fucking heard of knocking!" Stephanie screeched as she tried making herself look presentable again. Chris just snickered and plopped down into her leather chair behind her while she stared daggers at her employee.

He would surely lose his job now, the poor technician thought. The thought made him stammer a bit. "I, I'm sorry, I just--"

"Get the hell out of my office, now!" she yelled. The technician didn't need to be told twice. He immediately turned and left, scurrying away. Stephanie took a deep breath to calm herself, but she was fuming. "A little fucking decency like knocking is too much to fucking ask for now," she mumbled angrily as she straightened out her paperwork in front of her, while Chris just watched her silently, a smirk threatening to creep up onto his face, but he was refraining.

She scribbled her signature on something angrily, muttering under her breath while he just observed. He spun his chair a little to the side and watched as she scribbled some more while leaning over her desk. Her curled hair was loose tonight, and it was hanging down the sides of her face. As if sensing that he was watching, she reached up with her right hand and tucked some hair behind her right ear, offering him a nice view of her earrings and her profile before continuing to write.

She looked at him out of the corner of her eye, "What the hell are you looking at?" she said irritably while she wrote.

He just smiled. "I like your earrings," he told her, earning him an icy glare. He laughed at that, "What? What the hell are you so mad at? Oh, wait, I know…" he said as he slowly stood up. She ignored him as he went back to standing right behind her, all while giving her the once-over, "You're mad that we were interrupted…" he said in a knowing tone, while resting his hands on her hips.

She straightened and elbowed him in the stomach, "Get away from me," she told him while he gave her almost a pathetic look as he rubbed his stomach. She looked over her shoulder at him and snorted, "Ha, if you think your bullshit amateur moves are going to work on me, you're out of your fucking mind. And don't touch me again for the rest of the night, or you'll regret it."

Chris smirked at that. "What, is that some sort of challenge?" he asked as she took a seat in her leather chair while ignoring him. She reached out for her bag and pulled out her cell phone, before turning the ringer up and putting it on her desk. Chris chuckled to himself as he watched her ignore him. She was an interesting character, this Stephanie McMahon.

Very interesting indeed.

Stephanie reached out to look at the schedule for the show that night, wondering how she had gotten so swamped by work (the answer was right in front of her), when Chris decided to plop down right on top of her paperwork. She glared up at him, an almost evil look in her eyes as she made eye contact with him. He just smirked.

"I'll touch you if I want to touch you," he said, his blue eyes bright with amusement. "You know you like it," he said as his voice lowered, "so how about I go lock the door and we have a good time?"

"I don't want your hands anywhere near me," Stephanie snapped at him. "In fact, if I don't have to see your face for the rest of the night, that would be fine with me."

They both stared at each other silently for a while. His eyes searching hers, trying to figure out the enigma that was Stephanie, and her eyes looking at his, taking in how his eyes were nice and bright, almost shining in the light, as opposed to the dark blue they became late at night when they were alone…

"Get off my desk," she finally ordered. He didn't move. "Oh I'm sorry, did I stutter?" she asked sarcastically. "Get off my desk, Jericho."

He just licked his lips while she glared at him.

"If you don't get the hell off my desk…"

"You'll do what?" Chris challenged. "Come on, tell me, what are you going to do? I talked to Lilian, sure, and that made you jealous, understandable, but what did you do about it? Nothing, and you know why baby? Because deep down, you want me…"

"This is absolutely fucking ridiculous," Stephanie snarled while he smirked. The sight of his smirk just made her even angrier. He was just infuriating to her, no one talked to her like Chris did and it was driving her up the wall. She stood up and walked around the desk, marching straight towards the door while he laughed.

"Aw, come on, Stephy, stick around baby," he said, being answered by a slammed door. He let out a deep breath and hopped off her desk, before buttoning up his shirt again. He was so satisfied that he started humming to himself. He enjoyed pushing Stephanie's buttons and seeing her get flustered and lose her cool. She was used to intimidating and manipulating to get what she wanted, but her little games wouldn't work on him.

He sat down and sighed happily in her leather chair, kicking his feet up on her desk and over the paperwork that was on her desk. He folded his arms behind his head and leaned back, full of confidence in himself and in what he was doing.

She had met her match with him, no doubt about it in his mind.

Meanwhile, Stephanie was walking down a hallway looking for catering, or a vending machine, or somewhere where she could get a bottle of water. She usually went for high, top brand water, but she was thirsty right now and she wanted the thirst quenched immediately, and if that meant settling for cheap water for now, then so be it. She blamed her thirst for her irritated mood as she walked past everyone with a powerful walk that dared anyone to even breathe one word to her.

But the more she tried not to think of him, the more she did. It was incredibly upsetting, the whole thing. There were _rules_, and not only had Chris broken the rules, but he also didn't even care. She growled some obscenities underneath her breath.

All she wanted was for him to just do what he said he would do so that Hunter would break and ask for her back. Why was that so difficult to do?

She was so busy thinking about the entire situation that she didn't even notice her father walking towards her. Only until she realized that someone was blocking her path did she look, and her angry and plotting expression instantly changed to her Daddy's Girl face.

"Oh, hi Daddy, I didn't see you there," she said sweetly.

"There you are, Stephanie, I've been looking for you, I even sent someone to go find you. Don't you remember our meeting we were supposed to have today?"

Meeting? Stephanie blinked and tried to remember. What meeting? She frowned, hating that she was off her game when it came to her job. Luckily for her, however, her father was the boss, so there was no way in hell she would ever be fired.

"Oh, right," she lied, pretending to remember even though she had no clue what he was talking about. "I was just going to take care of something and then I was going to head over --"

"Well whatever you're going to do can wait," Vince said, turning and summoning her after him. She rolled her eyes in annoyance and followed while he continued, "This meeting is important, Stephanie, and I need you there to be my eyes and ears."

"Right," Stephanie agreed as she finally remembered the meeting.

Her father had been planning this meeting for the past several weeks, a meeting where he wanted to gather his staff along with the wrestlers to ask for some feedback about the possibility of joining the two brands together again in the near future, perhaps in the coming year. Vince usually didn't care about what other people thought, but he was trying to be more thoughtful… or rather, he was trying to get the people around him to brainstorm some brilliant idea that he could use and take full credit for. Stephanie already knew this because she knew her father well, so she was already inwardly groaning that she had to tag along to this stupid meeting.

"Almost everyone is there, but we're missing a few of the wrestlers… I think it was Kane, Triple H, and Chris Jericho who weren't there, so can you get them to the conference room immediately, that would be great."

"Sure," Stephanie chirped, faking a smile. "I'll get on that."

"Good," Vince said as he kept walking while she stopped and rolled her eyes. Sighing, she took out her cell phone and dialed, before listening to the ring.

"Hello?"

"My father wants to see you now, there's a meeting and he wants all the wrestlers there," Stephanie stated in her business tone.

"I've missed you too," came the sarcastic answer.

"Oh shut the fuck up Hunter, you're lucky I don't get you fired, now get your ass over there right now, and I better see you there or you'll be stripped of that title so fast…" she said warningly, her voice trailing at the end.

Hunter sighed. "You know you can't strip me of my title."

"Whatever, just be there, before I find a way to really strip you of it," she said. She hung up before he could respond, and then dialed another number, one she was becoming more familiar with.

"Hey baby, calling because you want some Vitamin C?"

Stephanie was about to snap at him for being so arrogant, and all around annoying, and so good in their late night activities that she was losing control of her job, but the words died at her lips when she was struck by an absolutely brilliant idea. She tossed her hair over her shoulder and smiled, "Oh Chris," she said sweetly, almost giggling a little.

Chris raised an eyebrow back in her office and stopped typing on her laptop. Her tone was odd, nothing like he'd gotten used to over the past few days, that was for sure. He licked his lips curiously as he leaned back in her chair.

"Oh Chris what?" he asked in a lowered tone, intrigued.

"You're so funny sometimes," she said coyly, "But I was really just calling to tell you that there's a meeting right now and I suggest you get going so you can make it."

"Oh, yeah, I heard about that."

"You heard about it and you didn't tell me?" she snapped angrily, before catching herself. She cleared her throat and tried again, "Well, you should head over there, you're going to be late and you know how anal my dad can be."

"Anything for you, Stephy baby," Chris said charmingly. Stephanie rolled her eyes and hung up the phone, before remembering that she needed to get a hold of Kane. She thought about it, before shrugging and walking off towards the meeting room. Who cared if he wasn't there anyways?

The only thing that mattered to her at that moment was knocking Chris down a few pegs.

Chris opened the door and rid the scowl from his face as he entered the crowded room where everyone was gathered. He hated these stupid meetings because he knew that Vince was full of shit. Chris was an excellent liar and he could spot a shitty liar from a mile away, so he knew right off the bat that this meeting would be nothing but a colossal waste of his time. Nonetheless, he closed the door behind him and leaned back against it, trying to just hide in the background and maybe not get noticed.

He lasted 0.03 seconds before Stephanie spotted him. She gave him a sweet smile and he was genuinely surprised to see it. It almost looked… genuine.

_Well that's odd,_ he thought to himself, looking at her suspiciously. He could have sworn she had been pissed at him earlier and had stormed out of her office raging because of him. Maybe he was wearing her down or something.

The thought made him smirk. He crossed his arms across his chest and eyed her as she waved for him to come over. She was sitting at the table in the room next to her father and there were wrestlers and workers seated all around, with the rest standing around as they listened to Vince drone on and on. He tried to nonchalantly come around the wrestlers standing around, but of course, as soon as he did, Vince spotted him.

"Well hello, Chris," Vince greeted him, a hint of annoyance in his voice, no doubt due to Chris's tardiness. "Why don't you come in and make yourself comfortable?"

Everyone snickered a little as Chris sneered at them all, before going to the only seat still available near the table. He hesitated a bit, since the seat was on the other side of Vince, but he couldn't _not _sit now. He went over and sat down in it, giving Vince a smile. Vince sighed and went on with his brief, boring everyone to tears and not noticing Chris tilting his head and looking at Stephanie who was sitting across from him.

In fact, it was as if everyone was oblivious to them, and they were oblivious to everyone too. Stephanie had a notepad in front of her and a pen in her hand which she was twirling in between her fingers, her eyes fixated on him as a smirk danced on his lips while he watched her.

"You want me," he mouthed silently to her. She raised an eyebrow, before looking over her shoulder where her brother was standing. He seemed none the wiser; no one seemed to be paying her and Chris any attention, not even her father who was sitting right in between them.

She looked back at Chris and gave him a small smirk, licking her lips a little. He smiled at that and reached up with one hand and unbuttoned the highest button on his shirt, before pulling his shirt out a little as if to show that he was getting hot.

"Maybe," she mouthed silently back to him. His blue eyes seemed to darken a little bit as he lowered his gaze to her breasts and leaned back in his seat, rubbing his chin as if listening to what Vince was saying when in reality, he wanted to ravage every inch of her warm, inviting skin…

"So I turn it to all of you," Vince said, though he was ignored by both Chris and Stephanie who were both looking each other over and thinking of what they would do when they got back to their hotel room. She was picturing something with handcuffs while he was imagining whipped cream, lots of whipped cream… "What are your opinions? Should we have more joint pay-per-views featuring both brands, and keep it at that, or would slowly integrating the two work? Or should we do it all at once?" he asked, his voice almost booming as his eyes grew wide.

Everyone looked at each other as he continued, "Bear in mind, there would probably be more traveling if we combined to do two TV shoots in a week."

"Whatever, Vince," Jeff Hardy said in a bored tone.

"Don't whatever me, this is serious business," Vince spat out in that manner that only he could manage. Jeff rolled his eyes and didn't bother answering as Vince huffed angrily and eyed all of his employees, before finally settling on his nearest one.

"Jericho," he said, startling Chris, "What are your thoughts?" he asked as Chris looked at him and wondered what the hell they had all been talking about.

But if Chris was blessed with anything, it was the gift of gab, and so he smoothly said, "I think it's a great idea, Vince."

"Really," Vince deadpanned. "Did you even hear a word I said?"

"Of course I did," Chris scoffed, racking his brain… before it dawned on him. He smirked, he was so good, was there anything he just couldn't do? "You were putting it out there for us about the brand extension. Personally, Vince, I feel that we need to shake things up. I think you should combine the brands _now_."

"Well it is an option," Vince boomed, happy that he was getting feedback that he wanted to hear, happily unaware that Chris was just feeding his large ego and he didn't really care what he did with the brands so long as he kept his job and was able to keep kicking ass and taking names. "So tell me, what are your thoughts on how that should happen? Everyone, listen, Chris has an idea that might be just as good as his Money in the Bank idea, so pay attention," Vince ordered.

"Well, the first…" Chris' voice trailed a bit, his mouth running dry as he swallowed hard.

"Don't stop," Stephanie told him with the most subtle seductive edge in her tone that only he picked up on as she smirked at him and tapped her pen against her chin. "By all means, keep going, Chris…"

"Well, I just…" Chris swallowed again, "I just thought that uh, maybe…"

"Chris, what's the matter?" Vince asked, looking at him critically. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, Chris, what's wrong? You don't look too well," Stephanie said, tilting her head to the side as she observed him. She didn't know what it was, maybe he just didn't like the crowded room… maybe he was losing his voice… or maybe her bare foot massaging the crotch of his pants underneath the table was getting to him a little bit.

"I'm fine," Chris said, clearing his throat as Stephanie nonchalantly licked her lips while she continued slowly rubbing him. "I was just thinking, you know, maybe like, the next, pay-per-view, or something…"

"Are you _sure_you're okay?" Stephanie asked innocently, feeling him getting aroused and loving it.

"Uh huh," Chris said, pulling his shirt out, now legitimately hot. "Can I get some water or, something, please?"

"Someone get Chris some water," Vince ordered, before eyeing Chris again. "Do you want to leave?"

"No! No, no, I'm fine here, thanks," Chris said, forcing a smile to his face as Stephanie just kept rubbing him. What the hell was the woman's problem? Did she not realize that she was embarrassing the hell out of him?

Not like he wasn't enjoying it, but in front of his boss and everyone else? Even Chris, as shameless as he was most of the time, even he had some class.

"Maybe you should leave and get some fresh air," Trish chirped up.

"I'm fine!" Chris snapped, "I just… wanted…" he bit his lip and ran a hand through his hair. "I'm sorry, Vince, but I just can't think right now."

"It's okay, just take it easy, I still need you to wrestle tonight," Vince told him matter-of-factly as Chris lowered his head into his arms. He closed his eyes and bit his bottom lip hard, trying to stop letting her touch drive him so wild, but she knew how to use her toes way too well…

"I think we shouldn't join the brands together," Randy said. "I don't want to have to travel so damn much during the week."

"Well, too bad," Vince snapped, before continuing, "This would really raise revenue, and raise profits. Merchandise sales would be through the roof, the ratings are dismal right now and this would help tremendously, and not only that, but --"

He was interrupted by Chris groaning into his arms. Everyone turned to look at him as he slowly raised his head up, his face flushed and his eyes a dark blue.

"Sorry, I have a headache," Chris mumbled, before lowering his head back into his arms as Stephanie snickered. Vince sighed, looking at his bored employees. He looked over at Shane who just shrugged.

"Fine," Vince mumbled. "You can all go."

The wrestlers cheered like third graders who were being let out of school a half hour earlier than usual as they scattered out of the crowded room. Vince stood up as well and went over to chat with Shane.

Stephanie smiled and removed her foot from his crotch, leaving him throbbing and aching for her. Chris kept his head down, licking his lips, his breathing a little off as Stephanie reached down to put her stiletto back on. She finally sat up again and closed her notepad, before tucking the pen over her ear. She smirked, satisfied with herself as everyone left the room.

As soon as the last person was out and the door was shut, Chris raised his head and glared at Stephanie.

"What the hell was that? You embarrassed me," he said angrily as she laughed. She walked around so she was behind him and she rested her hands on his shoulders, gently massaging him.

"You mean the way you embarrassed me earlier with Lilian?" she asked, before tugging on his hair and pulling his head back as he winced.

"Ow, Stephanie, what the fuck is wrong with --"

"Shut up, Chris," she sneered. "The next time I catch you hitting on another woman, I'll put spikes underneath my stilettos and we'll see how you like it."

"Wow… kinky, Steph," he said with a smirk. She pulled his hair again, "Ow, okay, stop it, let go of the hair."

"Two and a half more weeks and you'll be a free man and you can do whatever you want, but not before," she said, finally letting his hair go. He rubbed it, frowning. "And don't think you have this fucking game won, because we haven't even gotten started," she told him matter-of-factly, before turning and walking out of the room, leaving him alone.

He watched her leave before leaning back in his chair, drumming his fingers on the edge of it. She was unbelievably daring and bold. How she did that with her father right _there_, it was absolutely risky and just… absolutely hot. A slow smile crept over his face as he stopped drumming his fingers.

He was definitely starting to like her style.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Been a long time, eh? Sorry, I be tryin' tho… enjoy. ;)**

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* * *

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_Baby, can't you see?__  
I'm calling__  
A guy like you  
Should wear a warning  
It's dangerous  
I'm falling_

_There's no escape  
I can't wait  
I need a hit__  
Baby, give me it__  
You're dangerous  
I'm loving it…_

**Britney Spears: Toxic**

**

* * *

**

"She is _dating _Chris Jericho, and you don't care?" Hunter snarled, his face turning red from anger as he glared at Vince.

"What's wrong with it?" Vince asked, peering up at Hunter over his glasses. "She is a grown woman, she can do whatever she likes. Plus, Chris is a fine young man. I have no qualms about it, just like I didn't have any qualms about her dating you."

"Oh bullshit," Hunter scoffed. "You didn't want her anywhere near me."

"What is this about, Hunter?" Vince demanded, removing his glasses and returning the heavyweight champion's glare. "You know I have a lot of work to do, and I don't have time for this foolishness."

"Chris is nothing but a fucking dog, and he is going to use Stephanie like he uses every other girl around here! And you don't even give a shit!" Hunter exclaimed, slamming his hands on Vince's desk and leaning forward furiously.

"Lower your voice!" Vince snapped angrily, his brows furrowing. His eyes were threatening.

"How dare you," he growled, "barge into my office like this, and make these outrageous accusations about Chris Jericho! He is an upstanding young man, and my daughter can take care of herself!"

Hunter fumed silently, his jaw clenched tightly as he looked down and away. This old man couldn't even see his own daughter for who she really was – a heartless, power-hungry, manipulative, and ruthless woman. Why had he been stupid enough to think he would see Chris for the man whore he was?

Hunter had heard the stories about Chris Jericho. The man had no respect for anyone except himself, and half of the females on payroll had probably slept with the man. He would fuck a woman, and then leave her like a dirty whore. Hunter usually didn't care about other people's business, but Stephanie _was_ his business. And no matter how she was as a person, or how downright nasty she could be, he still abhorred the idea of Chris Jericho putting his filthy hands on her.

Her body was _his, _and his alone. And to think that Jericho might be using her in one of his sick games was driving him insane.

"Fine," Hunter finally spat out through gritted teeth. He turned around and marched straight to the door, slamming it behind him angrily.

_Well, if he's not going to do anything about it, then I will_, he decided. He walked with determination towards Chris's dressing room. Whatever game Chris and Stephanie were playing, it was about to end. He knew Stephanie, and he knew Chris's reputation, and it was just too convenient that they were now dating and fully committed to each other. He knew that Stephanie was probably fucking with him… or at least, he almost hoped she was.

Surely, she would never actually _want _to date a sleazeball like Chris.

Right?

He scowled as he arrived to Jericho's dressing room. He paused momentarily, closed his eyes, and balled up his fists. He would pummel Chris if necessary.

Without knocking, he threw the door open.

And immediately regretted it.

Stephanie was sitting on the sofa with her laptop on her lap, with Chris sitting right next to her on her left. He was sitting very close to her, his lips on her neck, kissing and occasionally whispering. Stephanie's head was leaning back against the sofa, her eyes closed and a look of ecstasy on her face.

The laptop obscured his vision, but he could clearly see Chris's left arm reaching down into Stephanie's lap. He could put two and two together. Hunter flushed red with embarrassment, and immediately walked out of the room. Chris noticed this out of the corner of his eyes, and he smirked.

"Your boyfriend was just here," he whispered against her skin.

"Mhmm…" Stephanie purred, oblivious to what was going on around her. She was completely focused on his left hand which was nestled into her pants, on his fingers which were expertly caressing her.

"That's right," he whispered, a bulge growing in his pants as she moaned. "Come on…"

"Oh God…"

An arrogant smirk spread across his face as he felt her lift her hips to feel more of his fingers.

"My fingers can only do so much, baby," Chris said, his voice low and dangerous. "But I have other body parts that can give you what you need…" he kissed her behind her ear, letting her feel his breath there. She shuddered at the sensation.

"Yes," she said, licking her lips eagerly. Yes, anything to quell the raging fire he was building inside of her.

"Maybe tonight then."

Then with an evil smirk, he removed his hand from her pants. Her eyes opened, the sensation of his fingers gone. This was sobering, and she looked at him with arousal and lust dancing in her eyes.

"Chris…" she breathed, her body aching for him.

"Stephy, baby," he said smoothly. "You said no more messing around at work, so we'll just have to do the responsible thing and wait until we get back to our hotel room."

She looked at him with disbelief.

"Unless," he continued, his evil smirk growing, "you ask me nicely."

Oh how badly she wanted him. Her body was practically shaking. She had been right there, almost over the edge, and he does this to her? She felt anger stirring inside of her, but it was outweighed by the fact that she needed him badly right then.

"Come on," he whispered teasingly, looking at her with his darkened lust-filled eyes. He could see it in her eyes, how much she wanted him. If he was being honest with himself, he wanted her too.

But he wanted to hear her say it out loud. He wanted her to confess to him that he was the stronger of the two. His smirk grew more, knowing he had her where he wanted her.

He was going to break her and win their game.

"Tell me you want me," he urged, "Tell me how badly you need me, and we'll continue… you know you want to…"

Stephanie did. She wanted to with all her being. But her pride thankfully flared up, overtaking her physical need for him. She took a deep breath, regaining her senses.

How dare he rile her up like that and then leave her hanging high and dry? _No one _did that to her and got away with it. Yes, she would make him regret that little move later that night when they were alone…

"Fuck you, asshole," she finally said, finding her voice. "I'm not giving into your stupid fucking games," she told him angrily. He just laughed.

"Aw, what's the matter? I thought we were having fun," he teased, leaning in to kiss her.

Stephanie shoved his face away, and then slammed her laptop shut. She looked at him, and sneered at the triumphant smirk on his face.

"We'll see who's begging tonight," she threatened, making him laugh again. He brought his fingers up to his lips.

"Yes, we'll see," he said confidently. "But I'd say right now I'm winning, since you were practically begging me to fuck you here even though your door is unlocked. Heaven only knows who could have walked in…"

Stephanie rolled her eyes and scoffed, "Like I give a shit. Technically you're my boyfriend so I can do whatever the hell I want to you," she said with an evil smirk of her own.

Which she was planning on doing after his little stunt he just pulled.

"Well, Hunter came in and saw us, do you give a shit about him?"

Stephanie blinked in surprise, before looking at Chris critically, "Hunter came in here? When?"

"Sure did, just a couple minutes ago," Chris said with a chuckle. "You didn't notice of course, seeing as how I was diverting your attention… how selfish of me, keeping your attention all to myself."

"Don't inflate your head too much, it might explode and then who will I have to help me carry out my plan?" Stephanie asked, teasing him. He smiled. "What did he say? Did he even say anything? I didn't hear him if he did."

"No, he didn't say anything… just stood there turning red. He looks hilarious when he turns red like that, like he's just a big, angry, stupid bear."

They both laughed together. "Man," Stephanie said, sighing. "I wish I would have seen his face."

"You mean you don't care at all that he saw me finger fucking you?" Chris asked, surprised.

"Why should I care? He should have knocked," she said, smirking with an evil glint in her eyes. Chris smirked too and looked away, chuckling and shaking his head. Stephanie looked at him for a moment, eyeing his hair critically. He was surprised when he felt her run her fingers through his now shortened hair. "I don't think I told you, but I like this haircut."

He snorted, looking back at her. He didn't remove her hand from his hair, loving the way it felt. "Of course you do, it makes me look damn good. I'm way beyond hot and sexy now… they need a new adjective to describe me… ow, what are you doing!" he cried out in pain as she fisted a handful of his hair.

"Mmm, still enough for me to grab… good," she said, a satisfied smile on her face as she let his hair go. He rubbed his head and gave her a dirty look.

She patted his shoulder before standing with her laptop. He leaned back against the sofa, stretching his arms out so they were resting on top of the sofa. He watched her as she gathered up her things.

"Why are you always going to all of these fucking meetings anyways?" he asked snidely. "They're pointless."

"I know that," she said. "But it's my job, and I don't want to be fired."

He scoffed, "Yeah, like Vince would ever fire his precious, innocent little girl," he said mockingly. Stephanie laughed.

"It's true," she conceded. "But appearances are important, as I'm sure you know," she told him, looking over her shoulder at him expectantly. He stood up and walked over to her then, taking her things from her. She smiled. "Ah, such a gentleman."

He rolled his eyes as she opened the door, and they walked out together.

"So, what are we doing tonight?" Stephanie asked brightly, glancing over at Chris with adoring eyes.

"Maybe we can rent a movie," he suggested, looking over at her and smiling widely. "Just pop some popcorn and relax."

"Oh, that's a great idea… what should we rent?" she asked, stifling a laugh.

"Oh, I don't know… how about _Planet of the Apes_? I keep getting reminded of this movie for some reason," he said, sounding confused.

They both burst out laughing, the laughter genuine as they reached her dressing room. She opened the door and Chris walked in and put her things down on her desk.

"Thanks, love," she said, smirking at him as he walked back over to her.

"Anything for you," he told her, cupping her chin and gazing into her eyes. She looked at him longingly, before her eyes dropped to his lips. He leaned in and kissed her, his kiss sweet and gentle.

Stephanie's stomach did a tiny flip flop whenever he kissed her like this. It was purely for show, yes, but he was just so soft and gentle with his lips and his tongue when he kissed like this. Usually, behind closed doors, his kisses were anything but gentle. _Those _kisses drove her wild with desire, but she was growing a little fond of these kisses too. Neither of them noticed anyone walking past. Neither of them cared.

He pulled away and kissed her forehead. "Have fun at your meeting baby," he told her, winking.

"Get out of here," she told him teasingly. He laughed and walked away, putting his hands in his pockets. She stepped out a little bit, crossing her arms under her breasts as she watched him walk. She saw Chris walk past several female employees, but he just kept walking and didn't turn his head to look at anyone. Finally, he disappeared into his own dressing room at the end of the hall.

Stephanie smirked and went back into her dressing room.

* * *

All was fair in love and war, and it was time for Chris to even the playing field.

After all, he was Chris Jericho, and Chris Jericho wasn't made to look like a fool often. He never forgot when someone got the better of him, storing it away in his brain for future retribution. He had an excellent memory, and as such, he had not forgotten how Stephanie had embarrassed him at the last meeting Vince had held.

He smiled to himself as he walked down the hallway. Oh yes, payback was going to be delicious indeed. He adjusted his sharp suit that he was wearing, rubbing it down as he came to a stop. He touched his hair, making sure he looked good, before entering the conference room.

Some people in the darkened room turned to look at him, but most didn't. Stephanie was standing at the front with her laptop open on the table in front of her. He noted with delight that she had noticed him. He smiled and gave her a small wave, before leaning against the door and staying in the back.

Chris blatantly checked her out while she continued her presentation as if he hadn't entered. She was the epitome of professionalism, dressed in a smart business suit herself, tailored to fit her wonderful curves. Her hair was down and curled just how he liked it. He licked his lips, imagining himself pulling her hair as they fucked each other senseless back at their hotel room…

Stephanie gave Chris a subtle but suspicious look. What the hell was he doing? Sure, wrestlers were always invited to attend the weekly briefings she and her father held, but no one ever did. He was up to something, but what? She shot him another look before turning her pointer towards the lowered screen at the front of the room.

"As you can see here, we've taken a hit in merchandise sales over the last several weeks," she said, highlighting a table in her PowerPoint presentation. "The net effect has been relatively stable though," she stated confidently, before turning back to her audience, "since our new line of action figures…"

Her voice died off as she caught sight of Chris. She gazed at him for a few seconds, before looking away, flustered.

"Um," she stammered, raising one hand to her forehead, her train of thought completely lost.

"The action figures," Shane prompted, trying to nudge his sister along.

Chris leaned his head back against the door, smirking as Stephanie shot another glance at him. Her eyes dropped briefly to his crotch, where he was massaging himself through his pants, safe from anyone's view. His smirk grew.

If she wanted him to get aroused so much, he might as well do her a favor and do it himself. He snickered, envisioning what he wanted to do to her as he continued to blatantly rub himself.

"Right, the action figures," Stephanie said, flustered and distracted. What the fuck was he doing? There were possible investors sitting there in the room, people who could bring large amounts of money to their business. And there Chris was, in the back, feeling up on himself and getting aroused. If they saw him, they would be absolutely appalled. Did he have no fucking class?

Not only that, but watching him touch himself like that was starting to turn her on… which only made her more flustered.

_That fucking idiot, _she fumed silently, before turning back to her presentation.

"Um," she stammered, before forcing a laugh, "I'm sorry, everyone, I just lost my train of thought."

_That's right, _Chris thought silently to himself, openly jerking himself through his pants. _I fight fire with fire, baby…_

"So with the holiday season almost upon us, we are seeing the sales of our action figures skyrocket," Stephanie said, resuming her talk. She forced herself to ignore him in the back and focus on her job. "We are seeing a loss in general merchandise sales though, especially with the clothes, but we do anticipate business to pick up soon…"

She walked the couple steps up to her laptop, and pressed a button to move on to the next screen. She couldn't help but glance up briefly, and she acknowledged her audience before her eyes settled on Chris. His eyes were closed, and even from where she was, she could see how aroused he was.

She forced her eyes away from him, but couldn't force the heat from flooding into her. The man was fearless, absolutely bold… she was so turned on by him right then. His attitude was so addicting and the look on his face… and the growing bulge in his pants…

Stephanie released a shaky breath, hating that he had sprung this on her. She hated even more that she hadn't been prepared.

She smiled inwardly as she continued her presentation.

Damn, he was good.

Ten minutes later, she stepped around the table as Shane walked to the front to do his part of the presentation. She gave a few people nods, and shot her father a smile. Everyone kept facing the front as Shane set up for his talk. Stephanie walked as calmly as she could straight to Chris, who was eyeing her hungrily.

She pulled him aside just enough to open the door, and then immediately pulled him out of the room before anyone could see his crotch. Once they were in the hallway, Stephanie looked around quickly. No one was looking at them right then.

She grabbed Chris's hand and hauled him into the nearest janitor's closet. She closed the door behind them.

"What the fuck was that?" she growled, furious as she turned to glare at him.

"Payback," he stated simply as he smirked. Now that they were in private quarters, he stuck his hand inside his pants to really jerk himself.

Stephanie slapped him across the face, hard, whipping his head to the side. He turned to look back at her, his eyes dark with lust. He reached out and grabbed a fistful of her hair, roughly pulling her head back. She gasped at this as he sought out her neck, ravishing her. She reached down and removed his other hand from his pants, replacing it with her own and resuming his stroking for him.

"Well then, consider us even," she breathed against his lips as he moaned. "Don't stop this time…" she said, tightening her grip on him.

He didn't plan to. His lips captured hers in a kiss, roughly, in charge and in control.

Just how she liked it.


	8. Chapter 8

_I'm so addicted to_  
_All the things you do_  
_When you're rolling 'round with me_  
_In between the sheets_  
_Oh, the sounds you make_  
_With every breath you take_  
_It's unlike anything_  
_When you're loving me…_

**Saving Abel: Addicted**

* * *

The sex was supposed to be Chris' compensation in their little arrangement, but that didn't mean Stephanie wasn't enjoying every mind-numbing second of it.

Stephanie swept her hungry eyes over Chris' naked body as he slumbered next to her in bed. His hair still had a hint of dampness from their wild bed romp earlier, and she smirked at that. He was lying on his side, facing her, his face inches from her bare breasts. His warm breath on her skin was putting her in the mood again. She trailed one of her well-manicured hands down his side. It never ceased to amaze her how warm Chris always was. It was like the man only had two body temperatures: warm and scorching hot.

When her hand reached his hip, she nonchalantly trailed her hand forward, taking his warm and soft length in her hand. Slowly and very sensually, she started to stroke him.

Chris sighed, slowly becoming aware of the inviting warmth of Stephanie's body close to him. He leaned forward, nestling his face against her cleavage as if she was his personal brand of pillows. If he was being honest with himself, he really wouldn't mind waking up like this more often.

"Damn, woman," he mumbled against her skin, his eyes still closed. "Already want more?"

Stephanie smirked. "What's the matter? Don't tell me I'm wearing the almighty Chris Jericho down…"

"Never," he whispered, before beginning to suck her soft flesh.

"Mmm, that a boy," Stephanie teased, running her free hand through his short hair.

Chris rolled onto his back and pulled her with him, his hands and mouth exploring every inch of her body as she straddled him. He had never thought he could ever meet a woman who could match his sex drive, but Stephanie was more than his match in this department. Hell, sometimes, he was hard-pressed to keep up with her. As if catching that thought, Stephanie leaned down and kissed him hungrily. Chris groaned into the kiss, hard and ready for her.

For the first time in a very long time, he actually and genuinely felt _satisfied_ with one woman.

He was almost going to be sorry to see her go back to Hunter's arms.

Almost…

Ten minutes later, her cell phone vibrated on the wooden nightstand next to the bed. Chris and Stephanie didn't notice, too lost in their own heat and raw sex to pay any attention to anything else. The world could have waged a war right outside of their hotel room and they would have been oblivious. For the moment, their world consisted only of each other.

Was it supposed to feel so… _perfect_? Chris wondered absent-mindedly, the question coming through like a beacon of light in the darkness of unadulterated lust. He reached for her hands and grasped them tightly, intertwining their fingers together. Everything about her seemed perfectly fitted to him, from her fingers to her body to her personality. It was as though a higher being had crafted this woman for him and no one else…

Her cell phone vibrated again, and this time, Stephanie noticed. She stopped rocking against Chris, both of them covered in sweat and breathing heavily. He stared up at her as she looked over to her cell phone. Her brown hair was damp with sweat and hanging down in loose curls, her eyes dark with lust. He licked his lips. She was a sight.

"Come on, Steph," he whispered, bucking his hips lightly against her. "It can wait."

"Hold that thought, lover," she told him with a smirk, putting one finger to his lips to silence him. "I know I am irresistible, but use a little self control… and do try to stay hard for me," she said as her smirk widened.

She reached over with her free hand, stretching and reaching for her cell phone while he growled underneath her. She flipped it open and gave Chris a wink.

"Stephanie McMahon," she greeted, not bothering to hide the fact that she was still out of breath. Chris bit his bottom lip hard. How the hell could she take a phone call while he was still hard inside of her? Impossibly, her nerve made him even more aroused. He roamed his hands up her stomach to her breasts while Stephanie let her free hand caress his stomach.

"Uh huh… what time did he get there?... I see… very good work. Tip well earned. Have a good night." Stephanie flipped the phone closed and tossed it back on the nightstand.

"Who the fuck was that?" Chris snarled, bringing his hands down to her waist.

Stephanie smirked and leaned down to kiss him again. He realized full well that she was avoiding answering his question, but his body was aching for her so he didn't care at the moment. They could talk later, but they had unfinished business to tend to now. He ravaged her lips while he wrapped one arm around her. The way she seemed to melt against him was driving him fucking crazy. It was hard to believe they had only been doing this for two weeks.

It was even harder to believe there was only one week left in their arrangement.

Stephanie abruptly broke their kiss, giving him a coy smile as Chris frowned. "Hunter is downstairs in the bar. I have to go see him."

"Wha-" his voice trailed off when she got off him altogether. He sat up, his eyes wide with both shock and indignant anger as he watched her get off the bed and head over towards the bathroom. "You're going to see Hunter? _Now?_"

"Of course, _now_," Stephanie said, looking over her shoulder at him. She lifted an eyebrow curiously. "What's wrong with it?"

"Well gee, I don't know. What do you fucking _think _is wrong with it, Stephanie?" Chris growled, gesturing to his almost painful-looking erection. Stephanie looked over at it, taking an appraising look.

"Well, it looks to me like you should put that hand of yours to good use, or just wait until I come back," Stephanie told him with an evil-looking smirk. "Doesn't feel so good being left hanging, does it, Chris? Keep that in mind next time you try to pull a stunt like last week again."

Stephanie laughed and walked into the bathroom, not seeing Chris' jaw drop. She had woken him up wanting sex, and then had dropped him like a bad habit before they could even really get it going? The fucking nerve of this goddamned woman. He fell back into bed, gazing up at the ceiling of the dimly lit room. He heard her getting ready in the bathroom, and just could not believe it. She was actually going through with this?

"I'll just go find some other chick to fuck then," he called out loudly. A moment later, Stephanie's rich laughter floated back to him.

"You won't."

Chris scoffed. "You're nothing special, Stephanie. I'll be fucking another woman in this bed before you even spot that son of a bitch."

Stephanie emerged from the bathroom, and when he looked over, he knew that he was going to be doing nothing of the sort. She was wearing a near see-through dress with the stiletto heels that he loved. Her hair was loose and a little untamed to his trained eye, as if hiding their secret game in its curls.

"Oh really?" she challenged.

Chris grunted, drinking in her beauty with his eyes. She was worth waiting for, he supposed. Just a little bit…

"Don't be long," he grumbled.

Stephanie took in his naked and ready form, and had to admit to herself that it was very tempting to say fuck it so she could go back to fucking him. To swim and drown in everything that was Chris Jericho. Chris was a man in every sense of the word. To know that she was woman enough to make him stay and wait for her made her chest fill with pride and a little of something else she couldn't place.

"You won't even notice I'm gone," she told him with a flirtatious look, before leaving the hotel room altogether. Chris sighed when he heard the door close.

"Somehow, I seriously doubt that…"

* * *

It didn't take Stephanie long at all to find Hunter. She tilted her head to the side, pity and disgust in her eyes as she approached him. Her ex-boyfriend was staring up at the nearest TV, watching a replay of an earlier baseball game with bleary, bloodshot eyes. He was nursing a drink in both hands, and she already knew it was vodka. Once she got close enough, she confirmed it.

"If people see our heavyweight champion like this, we could get a hit in the ratings, you know."

Hunter instantly straightened his spine and looked over at her in surprise. "Steph, hey, what a coincidence."

Stephanie snickered and took a seat on the bar stool next to him. She gestured to the bartender. "I'll have whatever he's having." She looked at Hunter through the corner of her eye. "You're not drunk, I see. Just decided to watch some sports at this hour?"

Hunter frowned and looked down into his drink. "Just thinking about things."

Stephanie rolled her eyes, almost wishing she had stayed with Chris. She immediately put on her sympathetic face, leaning in towards Hunter as the bartender brought her a drink. "What's wrong?" she asked with mock concern.

"Just, you and Jericho. It's not right. I don't like it," he mumbled.

"Chris loves me," Stephanie said, patting Hunter almost sympathetically on his back. Inside, she was ecstatic. Yes, once she allowed Hunter to take her back into his life, he would treat her exactly how she deserved to be treated. She would be on top of the world, where she deserved to be. "He gives me what I need."

"I still don't like it," Hunter spat out angrily. "And Jericho doesn't actually love you. He doesn't love anyone except himself."

"Speak for yourself, asshole."

Stephanie and Hunter both looked over their shoulders as Chris approached. He was wearing loose jeans and a black, worn WWE shirt. Stephanie smiled at the sight of him. This was most unexpected, but deliciously perfect on Chris' part. She would have to reward him for such selfless foresight.

"Who are you calling an asshole?" Hunter growled.

"Now now," Stephanie said, standing up and putting a hand on each of the men's chests. "Take it easy. None of us want to hear my dad bitching tomorrow." She turned to Chris, eyeing him curiously. "Babe, I said I'd be back soon."

"You were gone too long," Chris admitted in a low tone, his words completely genuine as he got closer to her. Stephanie bit her bottom lip, smelling the sex pouring off him as he mercilessly ravaged her with his eyes.

"It wasn't _that_ long, Chris," Stephanie laughed as Chris put his arm around her.

Hunter turned away, not able to handle seeing this display. He quickly raised his drink and downed the whole thing. Angrily, he got up and stalked away. No way was he just going to sit there and be the oblivious jackass while the woman he genuinely cared for draped herself all over the one person he couldn't stand.

"He won't last much longer," Stephanie said with a smirk as Chris reached over for her glass.

"Yeah, well, neither will I," he said, drinking her entire drink. He brought the glass down and took a seat next to Stephanie. He looked at her, his dark gaze heated as he settled his smoldering blue eyes on her breasts. "We have unfinished business, Stephanie McMahon."

Stephanie smirked and nonchalantly put a hand on his thigh, beginning to massage his leg as she slowly worked her way up. "You are something else, Chris Jericho. Hell, I don't remember you being this much fun when we were business partners."

"Yeah, well, that was then, and this is now," Chris snapped, before angrily looking away. Stephanie was genuinely caught off guard by his reaction. Their entire relationship was a game built on lust and desire. They spoke to each other with sexual innuendo and mischievous flirting ringing in every syllable. She hadn't heard him speak so seriously in _years, _and for a moment didn't even know what to say to him in response.

"Did something happen?" Stephanie finally asked with surprising tact. She wanted to finish what she had started with Chris, and she didn't want him to be upset or he wouldn't perform as usual. At least, that was the reason she convinced herself of…

Chris shook his head. Like hell he would ever admit to her what had happened after that business partnership fell to pieces. Stephanie didn't honestly care about him; hell, she was more likely to ridicule him than sympathize with him. "It's nothing," he finally said. "Don't worry about it."

"When someone says it's nothing, that means it's definitely something," Stephanie told him in a light-hearted tone, studying him curiously. His jaw was set and his eyes were distant, as if he was remembering something that still troubled him today. Stephanie waited for him to say something, but he didn't. For some reason, this bothered her immensely. She had gotten used to Chris being a certain way, and she didn't like seeing him when he wasn't his usual, conceited, suave self.

She lifted her hand from his leg and put it on his back. He blinked a few times, before looking over at her.

"You okay, or does lack of sex usually do this to you?" Stephanie asked, her tone snide and borderline indifferent. Her eyes though told the true story, conveying a concern that he knew was extremely rare. He stared into her eyes and figured it was best to leave the past in the past. Stephanie was here in the now, with him, and he needed to stay in the moment like he always did.

He cracked a small smile. "Lack of sex does give me some nasty side effects." His smile turned into a smirk, his eyes darkening with want. "Especially when I'm left hanging."

"Mmm," Stephanie said with a smirk, pulling her hand back. She stood up slowly, making sure she gave him an eyeful of cleavage as she did. Now _this_ was the Chris she was getting to know and like. "Not a great feeling, is it, Chris?"

Suddenly, Chris hauled her close to him, his hands on her hips. He spread his legs on the bar stool, bringing her between them. He licked his lips when she put her arms around his neck.

"Point well made," he whispered, teasing her lips with his. "I won't do it again if you don't."

"Deal."

"Can I fuck you now?" he asked, pressing himself against her so she could feel how hard he still was. That feeling flared up in her chest again at the knowledge that this man just could not get enough of her. After feeling the sting of rejection from Hunter, it was refreshing to feel so needed. Chris was practically animalistic in his raw desire for her, and it drew her in like a moth to a flame.

"Here on the table?" Stephanie whispered with a devilish grin as Chris roamed his hands over to her back and down her rear. She shuddered a little when he leaned in and nipped her ear. "The bartender won't like that, I don't think."

"Then I guess we'll have to go somewhere else," he chuckled.

"Chris," Stephanie laughed as he got up and dragged her out of the bar. They were ignored by the hotel workers who were lingering about in the lobby area as Chris led them over to the elevators. Stephanie licked her lips. She couldn't say she wasn't looking forward to another romping session with Chris. She could not get enough of the man.

_Damn, _she thought to herself, frowning a little. _How the fuck am I supposed to go back to having sex with Hunter after this? _

The thought was barely completed before Chris dragged her into the elevator. He pressed the button for the highest floor, and then was instantly on her. Kissing her with a sudden need he hadn't truly felt until tonight. There was a fire raging within him, and he needed Stephanie to help extinguish it before it burned him alive from the inside.

"Chris," she gasped, "Elevator…"

"Don't care. Here. Now," he whispered against her lips.

Stephanie was ready to oblige. Neither no longer caring that they were in a public elevator and could be caught at any moment by a late-night guest, she worked on unbuttoning and unzipping his jeans while he lifted up her dress and tugged her panties down.

He was inside of her before they got to the third floor. Chris silenced her moan with his mouth, ravaging her with his tongue while she tightened her grip on his hair. They moved together in a perfect rhythm, and Chris was once again bewildered and overwhelmed by how perfect it all seemed. It was as if they were both made for this exact moment, every experience in their lives tailor-made to bring them here, together.

They reached the top floor, and the door opened. When no one left the elevator, the door closed. Eventually, the elevator returned down to the first floor, where it sat undeterred. Chris and Stephanie were oblivious to it all, both of them forgetting that this was meaningless sex as their touches and caresses became more sensual and less raw. More loving and less animalistic. Their pace became slower and less frantic. It didn't matter that in a week, it would be over. Hell, it didn't even matter that when the sun rose, they would go back to being the two most jaded people in the company. For the first time, none of that mattered.

Because for the first time, they were actually making love.


	9. Chapter 9

"This is so fucking stupid," Chris mumbled, scowling at his reflection in the stand-up mirror in his hotel room. He was adjusting his black tie while wondering where the time went. Lost in a sea of steamy sex and a twisted game of one-up-manship with the fiery Stephanie McMahon, Chris had lost all track of time. Three weeks had come and gone, and now the day had finally arrived where their game would come to an end. Chris still wasn't quite sure how he felt about that.

"God, you've been bitching all day, just shut the fuck up already," Stephanie called out from her bathroom where she was putting the final touches on her makeup. She leaned forward closer to her mirror to properly apply her eyeliner. Nothing less than her best would do on this night.

Chris snorted as he secured his tie. "You said this was a waste of time this morning. Now you've had a change of heart?"

"No, it's still a waste of time," Stephanie said with a smirk. "But you don't see me whining and complaining about it every five minutes. Don't tell me you're missing me already?"

"Dream on, sweetheart," Chris said, smirking himself as he looked himself over in the mirror. Some people would say he was conceited, but was it really his fault that he was so handsome? "I'll be rocking another woman's world tomorrow night while you're pretending to have an orgasm with Ape Man."

"Oh, Christopher, you've figured me out," Stephanie sighed, leaning back to admire her work. "Yes, it's true, I do fake it often. In fact, I have been faking it with you these entire three weeks."

Chris laughed a deep and rich laugh that made Stephanie smile against her will. He finally stepped away from the mirror and walked over to the couch, sitting down in a relaxed position while he waited for her to finish. It was his experience with women that told him that no matter how much he prodded and pleaded, women still took their damn time whenever they felt like it. Since Stephanie cleaned up well, he could afford some patience.

"_No one _fakes it with me," Chris said smugly, flipping on the TV to check the weather. "Don't confuse me with your idiot ex-boyfriend."

"Soon to be boyfriend once again," Stephanie pointed out, finally emerging from the bathroom. Chris looked over and kept his gaze cool and smooth as he took her in. She was wearing an elegant black dress that hugged her curves perfectly. He felt a stirring in his pants as she gave him a playful smirk, slowly turning around to give him the full 360 degree view. The back was low-cut, dipping down and inviting his hand and his eyes down. Chris exhaled slowly as Stephanie turned to face him again. "So? What do you think?"

"If you don't get him back tonight, then he just doesn't like women," Chris said, his voice deepening as he turned off the TV and got up to his feet. He gave her a slow, appraising look down to her legs, and then slowly back up. Stephanie felt a little breathless under his scrutiny as he walked over to her.

"You like what you see?" she asked him flirtatiously.

"I like what's under the dress more," he said, his voice a sexy growl as he put his hands on her waist. "Let's ditch the party and throw our own right here, Princess," he whispered in her ear.

"Mmm," Stephanie sighed, leaning her head back as Chris brought his hot mouth down to her neck. "It's tempting…" she mumbled, feeling his rock-hard erection through his dress pants. She was a heartbeat away from giving in to one last round with Chris when he lifted his head to kiss her on the mouth. Stephanie immediately brought a hand up to his lips, before shaking her head. "Um, you're not about to ruin this makeup that took me a while to get perfect."

Chris chuckled, his hands still roaming up her back. "That's alright. It's not your mouth I want anyways."

"Such the charmer," Stephanie said snidely, giving his belt a light tug. "But you're just going to have to keep it inside your pants tonight. It's not about the sex tonight, Chris, if you can wrap your head around that."

Chris glared at her back when she pulled back and turned away from him with that smug attitude that defined her. It was one of the things that he simultaneously loved and hated about her. She could get him going, put him right in the mood, and she still had the self-discipline to walk away. No other woman had ever had such control around him and it both aroused and infuriated him.

"Right, because it's about _love _and all that bullshit," he sneered angrily.

"Oh please," Stephanie guffawed. "Don't make me laugh. This isn't about love, it's about power. You knew that from the very beginning."

"Come on, Steph," Chris said, coming up behind her and putting his hands on her waist. He leaned in and kissed her behind her ear. "I'll make it fast."

"Fast as always," Stephanie teased with a smirk, feeling a shudder run through her at the feel of his warm breath by her ear.

Chris laughed at that as she pulled away from him again. "That's alright, you'll be missing me soon enough, baby," he said, walking behind her as they headed towards the door. "Don't worry though. I'll fit you into my schedule. How about right before my matches, in my dressing room? You can help me unwind."

Stephanie laughed heartedly as they exited their shared hotel room. "Oh, Chris, you kill me."

"You're a handful yourself, Stephanie McMahon," he told her, smoothly coming up next to her and wrapping his arm casually around her waist. They walked together towards the elevator, looking to all the world like a perfectly happy couple. Chris smirked a little and whispered in her ear, "So who is in the lead?"

"I stopped keeping score," she said with an easy shrug, reveling in his touch and avoiding eye contact with him.

He smiled at that. "Because I was winning?"

This time she looked at him out of the corner of her eye, raising an eyebrow. "I'd say it was a tie."

"Well then, a tie it is."

* * *

An hour into the party, Chris was already bored out of his mind.

Stephanie had switched on her charm the moment they walked into the party. Almost everyone had turned to see the gorgeous brunette on his arm, and Chris couldn't help the warm feeling that had spread through his chest at knowing she was _his. _Granted, she wasn't going to stay his. He didn't mind that too much. The fact was that Chris Jericho had learned a long time ago to stay in the moment, and for now, she was his. And that's all that mattered to him.

Now he was sitting at a table alone in the large banquet hall, an untouched drink in his hand. He was wearing one of his nicer suits, and had noticed several single women looking his way. For the first time in a long time though, he didn't much care. Normally he'd be picking out the hottest woman at the party and working his untouchable game to lure them into his bed for the night. Instead, he was nursing a half-hard erection as he watched Stephanie move through the crowd at her father's party. Every now and then, she sent a glance his way with a small hint of a devious smile attached to it that made Chris smirk. There was a secret in her eyes that only he was in on, and he could only chuckle and shake his head as she continued her sweet, daddy's girl act. He was the king of the façade, knowing how to bullshit his way through anything to get whatever he wanted.

And she was his perfect match.

He was leaning back casually in his seat as Stephanie finally approached him. She smirked a little at the way his blue eyes wandered down her body, almost feeling a hint of regret that she hadn't tasted and felt him one last time. But guys who were good at sex were a dime a dozen, so what difference did it make, really?

"Well aren't you looking like the handsome, loner type over here all by yourself?" she teased, taking a seat next to him.

"Just watching you do your act," he responded, his smirk growing in amusement.

"Jealous that I do it better than you?"

"You wish," he snorted, before sitting up in his seat and leaning closer to her. He let his eyes hungrily wander down to her inviting cleavage. "Come on Steph, enough of this horseshit. How about we get the fuck out of here and I take you back to the car and fuck you so hard that you don't even know your own name?" he whispered, his face inches from hers.

Stephanie was left breathless for the second time that night, the heat rushing to her face (among other places). Turning away from him, she composed herself and was going to respond when something caught her eye.

"Hunter just got here."

Chris frowned and followed her line of sight. Sure enough, there was Triple H sauntering in, "fashionably late" and also dressed in a nicely pressed suit. Chris grunted and leaned back again, resting one arm on the back of Stephanie's chair.

"Guess so," Chris mumbled.

Stephanie looked back at Chris and smirked. "Wish me luck?"

He snickered, his lips teasing a smile. "Knock 'em dead, baby."

"Aw, such a sweetheart," Stephanie teased, leaning in and giving Chris a peck on the cheek. She stood up and he promptly slapped her on her rear. Stephanie yelped, her face flushing red from embarrassment as she made sure no one saw. She turned to glare at Chris, who just gave her a wicked smirk.

"What?" he asked innocently. "You don't mind when we're in the bedroo-"

"Ugh, just shut up!" Stephanie snapped at him, making him laugh out loud. She went to smack him in the back of the head, but he got a hand up and blocked it. It was rare to get Stephanie McMahon so flustered, but she had been teasing him since they woke up. She deserved it. Self-satisfied, Chris watched as she shot him a look that could kill before walking away.

Slowly, his laughter and good mood began to melt away as he watched Stephanie approach Hunter at a table across the hall from him. By the time she sat down next to Hunter, Chris' smile was completely gone, a deep scowl in its place. He leaned forward in his seat again, crossing his arms on the table as he watched with complete concentration.

Hunter looked up in surprise when Stephanie took a seat next to him. They exchanged a few words and then they both got up together. Stephanie took the lead, of course. That was only to be expected. A muscle near Chris' jaw flexed as she led them outside for a more private conversation. Chris grabbed his drink and chugged down a large part of it.

What the fuck did he care anyways?

"Hey baby."

Chris looked over at the woman who had taken a seat next to him. He had been so preoccupied, he hadn't even noticed. Her hair was long and a very light blonde, and she was wearing a strapless red dress that screamed "fuck me now." Chris eyed her up and down, giving her the once over. She would do, he supposed.

"Hey yourself, gorgeous," he said smoothly, adopting his charming act as he gave her his best smile. He could see her practically swooning in response, and his smile wavered a little bit. This was just too easy. He looked away, suddenly not interested.

"What's your name?" the blonde woman asked, blissfully oblivious of his assessment of her.

"Guy who's not fucking you tonight, whore," Chris answered bluntly, earning a gasp from the woman. He rolled his eyes and stood up, grabbing his drink. He stalked away, thankful there was music playing and that no one was really paying attention to the raving woman in the red dress screaming curses at him.

He headed to the back where there was a bar section, and took a seat on one of the barstools. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. What was wrong with him? Since when did he reject an easy lay?

_Must be getting sick or something, _he figured. He motioned for the bartender to come over.

"Hey man, give me something that will give me a buzz and quick, will you?" Chris asked.

"Make that two."

Chris tensed at the very familiar female voice that he hadn't heard in a long time. He grit his teeth together and stayed stone still as the woman sat down next to him. Of all the fucking rotten luck in the world…

"Well, aren't you going to say hi, Chris?"

He turned to glare at her, his grip tightening on his glass. "What the fuck are you doing here, Trish?"

Trish gave him a puzzled look, as if surprised by his hostile greeting. "Well, Vince invited me. Why are you here? I didn't see you on the invite list…" She left unspoken the part that said she would not have come had she known he would be there.

"Not that it's any of your business, but Stephanie invited me."

"Oh, I see," Trish said thoughtfully as the bartender brought them their drinks. "So you're dating her now?"

"I don't date anymore," he borderline snarled at her. "Thanks to you."

Trish rolled her eyes. "From what I hear, you've definitely moved on without me. You're quite the man whore these days, aren't you?"

"What can I say? I learned from the best," Chris sneered, looking at her with pure disgust.

"I'm flattered," Trish said sarcastically. "Really, I've apologized a million times to you. I don't know what else you want me to say, Chris."

"There is nothing else to say. I've moved on."

"Doesn't seem like it to me," Trish said with a smug smirk, as if proud of that fact.

"Well, it did take a little bit of effort. Someone cheating on you tends to have that effect."

"Oh geez, here we go," Trish said with a sigh. "Always have to go there."

"You still fucking that asshole you cheated on me with?" Chris asked bluntly, earning a shocked look from Trish.

"Geez, do you have to be so crass?" Trish hissed, glancing around to make sure no one heard Chris' remark.

Chris snorted in amusement, a bitter smirk creeping up on his face. "Lots has changed since the day I used to fuck your brains out, Stratus. And to think I almost asked you to be my ball and chain."

"Charming," Trish muttered sarcastically. "And no, I'm not seeing him anymore."

"Sucks for you," Chris said, raising his drink and chugging it down all at once.

"Chris, really, I'm sorry," Trish said, borderline pleading with him. "I don't want you to hate me."

"Too late."

"Can't we just put that behind us?"

Chris stood up and pulled out his wallet, taking out a bill and tossing it on the counter. He then tossed one towards Trish, earning an infuriated look from the former women's champion.

"Already have," Chris said, not even bothering to look back at her as he turned and walked away. Two women pissed at him, and the party wasn't near over. He was on a roll.

But he couldn't help it. He was different now, and while most of it was due to Trish, a good chunk was now due to Stephanie. No matter what Trish Stratus thought, he _had _come to terms a long time ago over what he had walked in on during a time when he had been head over heels for her. His consequent "to hell with commitment" attitude had been inspired by the type of hurt he swore to prevent from ever happening again. And it had served him damn well.

Until now.

He wandered aimlessly through the party, as if in a haze. Every now and then he would notice a woman checking him out, but he just wasn't feeling it. Blessed with a sex drive that was unmatched (by anyone not named Stephanie McMahon, anyways), it usually didn't take much to get Chris in the mood. But tonight was different, and he didn't know why. He couldn't even blame it on that bitch Trish Stratus. She had soured his evening, yes, but he hadn't been interested in the blonde woman in the red dress that sat down with him, and that was _before _Trish popped into the picture.

Was it because Stephanie was such a challenge? Was it the allure of Stephanie McMahon that was making other women seem… _boring _in comparison? It was giving him a headache to think about it, and Trish's presence didn't help. He really just wanted to get laid, but he wanted it to be with Stephanie McMahon.

He blamed it all on her rejecting him that day. Surely if she had just given him some, then he would be more relaxed and not thinking stupid things. Hell, he might've even still be flirting with the blonde in the red dress…

Without even thinking about it, he wandered outside for some fresh air. To hell with everything. There was no sense in dwelling on his past with Trish, because he couldn't go back and change anything now. There was also no sense in dwelling on the upcoming days that he was going to spend without Stephanie McMahon in his bed, because he couldn't do anything to change that either. The woman wanted her power and status, and Hunter had the gold. Chris had nothing to offer her except good (scratch that – amazing) sex, and that wasn't enough to keep a woman like her around.

Not that he wanted to keep her around anyways. It was just a thought…

"I missed you so much, babe," Hunter said, relief running through every vein in his body as he hugged Stephanie to him tightly. He kissed her on her temple just as Chris stepped through the double doors into the cool night air.

"Mmm, I missed you too," Stephanie responded, not completely lying. Sure, everything with Chris had been great and all, but Hunter gave such amazing hugs.

Plus, he was the heavyweight champion and on top of the world. Chris was, well…

_Why am I even thinking about him? _Stephanie asked herself angrily. She was here with her boyfriend, the man she actually cared about, and she was thinking about another man who was as conniving as she was.

She would never exactly figure out how she felt him there, but she did. Taking a look over Hunter's shoulder, she saw Chris. He was standing casually with his hands in his pockets, his shoulder leaning against the wall to the building the party was in. With only the night lighting illuminating him, he was a sight. Stephanie could see the brightness of his eyes from where she was, and she suddenly felt like she was drowning in his gaze.

"Um," Stephanie said, pulling away from Hunter a little bit. "I'll just meet up with you in the car, okay? I have to go talk to Chris."

Hunter followed her line of sight and scowled. "Ah, just leave him. Let's get the hell out of here."

Stephanie turned her attention back to Hunter and gave him a glare. "I don't think I stuttered," she sneered.

Hunter exhaled through his nose impatiently, before mumbling a half-hearted "whatever." He turned and headed off to go get his car while Stephanie walked over to Chris, who was waiting for her.

"So?" he asked, raising a curious eyebrow. "Did you two kiss and make up?"

"Something like that," Stephanie laughed. "He's such a female sometimes, even more than me."

"Is that what you call yourself?" Chris asked, smirking when Stephanie hit him in the arm. They both laughed as Chris stepped up closer to her. Stephanie instinctively put her hands on his chest.

"Haven't I proven to you already how much of a woman I am?" Stephanie asked with a smirk of her own.

"Touche," Chris noted, leaning in closer to her. "There's still time for you to make a run for it, you know. We could go back to my car and go back to the room and fuck all night."

"That would be deliciously cruel," Stephanie said thoughtfully, as if contemplating the idea. "Buuut, I have to decline."

"Well, how about a dance then?"

The smirk on Stephanie's face disappeared, being replaced by a look of genuine surprise. "You want a dance?"

"Sure, why not? There are all these old geezers there on the dance floor. At least me and you would provide eye candy to everyone watching," Chris said with a devilish grin.

Stephanie took a look over in the direction Hunter had walked in, before shrugging. "Sure. He can wait," she told him with a seductive wink. Chris snickered as she took his hand and led him back inside, right onto the dance floor.

Chris smoothly and expertly took her into his arms just as Stephanie turned to face him again. Her breath caught in her throat at his sudden proximity. She put her arms around his neck as he smirked.

"It's been a blast, McMahon," he told her, his tone teasing and quiet so only she could hear him. Stephanie was briefly mesmerized by the blue of his eyes before she cleared her throat.

"Yes, it has. So, are you in love with me?" she asked, mimicking his tone.

"Nope. How about you? You love me?"

"Nope."

"You love fucking me though."

"Well, a girl has needs. And you weren't exactly complaining either."

"Guess nobody wins the bet, huh?"

"Guess so," Stephanie snickered, pulling herself closer to him. She felt safe in Hunter's arms, but she felt nothing but warmth when she was with Chris. More than anything, that's what she was going to miss. His soothing and calming body heat, always ready to warm her or satisfy her own heat. Hunter wasn't terrible in the sex department, but he just didn't have Chris' heat.

"Good thing we didn't put money on it then," Chris said quietly, wanting to break the silence between them. If they could talk, then he could forget how perfect she felt against him.

"You should find yourself a girl and settle down, Jericho," Stephanie told him, laying her head on his shoulder to soak in more of his heat. If only he wasn't in his suit. If only it was just his skin and hers… "All that sleeping around you do is going to get you an STD."

Chris chuckled lightly, and Stephanie smiled a little at the way his laughter rumbled in his chest. "I'll settle down when you do."

"Guess we're just not the settling down type."

"We sure as hell aren't, that's for sure," Chris said, his tone smug. "I'll be moving on fast, so you know."

"Good," Stephanie said, lifting her head to come face to face with him. They both stared silently into each other's eyes for a few moments right as the music ended. That snapped them out of it, making them come apart at the same time as everyone started clapping for the live musicians.

"Well, you should get going. Don't want to keep the local jackass waiting," Chris said, crossing his arms defensively over his chest.

"Don't talk about yourself like that," she teased, giving him a smile that paralyzed him to the spot. She stepped up to him and kissed him on the cheek again. "Thank you."

He smirked a little. "Pleasure was all mine."

"Well, I don't know about that," Stephanie said with a snicker. "I'll see you at work, Chris."

"Yeah, see you at work," he said, watching as she turned and walked away.

Chris stood in his spot long after she had already walked out the doors, even when people around him started dancing again. After some time, he headed out too. There was no point in him staying there anymore, not without her there. He didn't even see a point in trying to pick up another woman to replace her, because there _was _no replacing her.

It was then that the truth hit Chris like a ton of bricks. Someone _had_ lost.

And that someone was him.


End file.
